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A HISTORY OR GENEALOGICAL 
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OF THE 



MESSLER (METSELAER) FAMILY 



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Copyright, igo3 

BY 

REMSEN VARICK MESSLER 



THIS WORK IS DEDICATED WITH DEEP AFFECTION TO THE 

MEMORY OF 

THOMAS DOREMUS MESSLER 

AND TO THE MEMORY OF 

REVEREND DOCTOR ABRAHAM MESSLER 



PREFACE 

The character and scope of this work are what its title im- 
ports, namely, a genealogical record of a family, extending in 
nine generations from the original emigrant-ancestor from 
Holland to America, and embracing a period to the present 
time of at least two hundred and sixty years. It cannot, of 
course, be viewed in any sense as a lite-ary product, inasmuch 
as it deals with the bare chronology of human lives. It thus 
partakes of the nature of a reference manual. In this aspect 
the work is an historical recital of the four unsolved mysteries 
of human existence — birth, which marks life's commencement 
of a sentient being ; marriage, an institution under which occur 
other births of a succeeding generation ; the limited continuity 
of life ; and lastly, death, the termination of life on earth. 

As far as I have been able to discover from various sources 
of evidence, the commencement of this work by my grand- 
father, the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Messier of Somerville, New 
Jersey, may be assigned to the middle of the last century. 

During the remainder of his life, a term of thirty years, Dr. 
Messier gradually collected together in the form of notes much 
of the matter relating to the earlier generations, and which con- 
stitutes the basis upon which the later fabric has been built. The 
material, doubtless, was gathered from many sources — some 
of it through hearsay and tradition from a grandfather, who in 
turn may have had it transmitted to him by an earlier ancestor ; 
some from historical research in local publications ; some from 
church registers, which, in the denomination of the Reformed 
Dutch churches in America, are unusually full and complete ; 
some from correspondence ; and some from personal recollec- 
tions. All this early material which Dr. Messier had garnered 
in various fields, bearing on the genealogy, passed, at his death 
in 1882, to his son and my father, the late Thomas D. Messier. 
Mr. Messier, however, owing to the demands upon his time 
in an official capacity, found no opportunity to engage his at- 
tention on the genealogy until the year 1889, when a release 
from some of his official railway duties gave him more leisure. 
From this time forward, it seems, the work was considerably 
extended. Many links were found and traced by sending cir- 
cular letters to persons bearing the family name, who in return 
would fill in accompanying blank forms with the requisite in- 
formation. The facts thus elicited would open up new chan- 



8 PREFACE. 



nels of inquiry, and, following these, further facts would be 
developed. Thus the process was continued until the work 
was well advanced. 

On the death of my father in 1893, all the materials which 
had been collected by him and by his father before him passed 
into my possession. What had been commenced I then re- 
solved to finish as far as possible, within known limitations. 
And so it is that during the interval of ten years which has 
now elapsed, I have been enabled, through many long periods 
of interruption and through many difficulties and misgivings 
as well, to still further elaborate and amplify the work down 
to and including the present, or ninth generation. 

In reviewing and systematically arranging the materials 
then already at hand I early foresaw that, as some of the links 
in the second and third generations and many of those in the 
later generations were irretrievably lost, ultimately a point 
would be reached where further inquiries would be useless in 
the endeavor to ascertain missing names. 

As each generation succeeded a preceding one, so the rami- 
fications and number of names increased in the generations 
while advancing towards the present age. Migrations of chil- 
dren as they reached maturity to widely scattered parts of the 
country from their native localities, which became pronounced 
with the advent of railway intercommunication, and more and 
more so as the railway systems developed ; a loss of knowledge 
of facts concerning births, marriages, and deaths ; the where- 
abouts of near or distantly related kinsmen unknown at the 
source of inquiry; and many other circumstances will suf- 
ficiently account for the impossibility of now supplying the 
missing links in the genealogical chain. The vicissitudes and 
changes, which are the common • heritage of life, bring with 
them births and deaths constantly occurring ; and so it is that 
no genealogy can ever be said to be complete at any given mo- 
ment. _ I have considered, therefore, that, under all the present 
conditions, the time has come to close the record and put it 
into the permanent form of a printed volume. 

This is now doue, not in the spirit of family glorification, 
but to preserve in a compact and unified form facts, gleaned 
during more than half a century, which would otherwise become 
wholly lost in the passage of time. 

The work is, of course, in no sense a coutribution to litera- 
ture,^ neither is it curious or diverting; but it is simply a com- 
pilation of brief facts touching the births, marriages, and deaths 
of human lives in successive generations. 



PREFACE. 



These facts in a few instances have been elaborated into 
biographical monographs where the requisite knowledge has 
permitted it. The work is not brought out for publication, 
but is intended for private distribution only among those per- 
sons who bear the Messier name, or among those who are 
affiliated with it by ties of kinship. To this limited class it is 
hoped that it may not prove uninteresting. 

The mechanical arrangement of the genealogical record fol- 
lows the usual custom of assigning in progressive order a num- 
ber to each person's name which appears in the record. 

Remsen Varick Messler. 

Pittsburg, March 8, 1903. 



FIRST GENERATION. 

The name of Messler, or Metselaer, as it was originally 
written, was introduced into America by three emigrants from 
Holland. The name is still extant in that country, as the edi- 
tor's grandfather, the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Messier of 
Somerville, New Jersey, discovered it in a Directory of Am- 
sterdam, Holland, when he was in Europe in 1854. He after- 
wards saw the residence of the person bearing the name, which 
had at the door a sign with the following inscription, viz. : 

"C. METSELAER, 

"notaris, 

"On de Spiegel Straat, 163." 

The name of Abraham Metselaer was also discovered in the 
same directory, but Dr. Messier does not say in what particular 
locality in Amsterdam he lived.* 

When the editor was in Holland on a brief foreign tour in 
July, 1894, he saw in the little church at the village of Broek 
a number of slabs in the floor having on them the name of 
Metselaer, with dates of the 17th century and the i8th century 
as well. These simple stones marked the last resting-places of 
those who in life had been prosperous and respectable people 
of that village and its neighborhood. 

In Brand's History of the Reformation in Holland, Volume 
4, page 169, edition of 1722, London, there is a notice of one 
Peter Metselaer, living at Hazerwoude, near Leyden, Holland, 
having had an altercation with a person by the name of Walligh 
Martinsen, September 20, 1620. The name itself is of Holland 
origin and signifies a "Mason." Probably the persons who 
first assumed it were of that craft, or guild. 

*The following names and addresses of persons bearing the name 
of "Metselaer" living in Amsterdam were found by Dr. Messler's son, 
the late Thomas D. Messier, when he visited Holland in 1891, viz. : 
C. M. Metselaer, 7, Regulierdwarstraat. 
J. H. C. Metselaer, 105, A, Uilenburgerstraat. 
S. H. Metselaer, 15, Piperstraat. 
A. J. Metselaer, 115, Gelderschekade. 

C. Metselaer, 6, Wolvenstraat, en 122, Sarphati straat, bighd Alex- 
anderplein. 
"Tapyten, Meubelstoffen, Behangelspapier, Behangery.'' 
C. A. Metselaer, 192, Kirkstraat. 

II 



12 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

It is not known, however, from what particular part of Hol- 
land the early emigrants came, nor the precise dates when they 
reached America. Their names were: 

1. Tennis Thomasen Metselaer. 

2. Tennis Teunisen Metselaer. 

3. Jan Adamsen Metselaer. 

I. Teunis Thomasen Metselaer must have emigrated as 
early as 1640, if not before, for he had a daughter baptized in 
the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam (now New 
York) in November of that year, and it is fair to infer that 
she was born shortly before that date. He was appointed a 
Burgher of New Amsterdam in 1657. His wife's name was 
Belitje Jacobs, and they were doubtless married in Holland, 
as no record of their marriage exists in the annals of that 
church. 

They lived in New Amsterdam for many years and she was 
a member of the Reformed Dutch Church in that city in 1649, 
under the auspices of which all their children were baptized. 

They had five children, two of whom were sons, as will 
hereafter appear under the head of "Second Generation." 

One of these sons left descendants ; but, inasmuch as he, at 
the time of the baptism of his first child, assumed the surname 
of Quick, no descendants of his, of the name of Metselaer in 
the male line, are known. 

The reason of this change of surname is not of record. 

Possibly it may be explained by the fact that, in early Colo- 
nial days, surnames among our Dutch ancestors were little used. 
Children sometimes, as in this case, assumed a different name 
from that of the father, or they took the name of either of their 
parents, or they assumed the baptismal name of their father, 
with the syllable "sen" added thereto, in the case of a son, 
meaning the "son of," as, for instance, Teunis Metselaer hav- 
ing a son baptized Jan, the latter would be known as Jan Teu- 
nisen, that is, Jan, the son of Teunis. A daughter might be bap- 
tized Geertje and she would be known as Geertje Teunis-Met- 
selaer, the surname of the father not being used in either case, 
or only in rare instances. Thus it is found a difficult, if not an 
impossible task, to trace the connection in every instance be- 
tween parents, children and grandchildren. 

Diligent search, even with the aid of the foregoing knowl- 
edge, has failed to disclose any descendants of the sons of 
Teunis Thomasen Metselaer bearing that surname, so that 
shortly after his death it may be assumed that the name of Met- 
selaer became extinct, so far as he was concerned. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 13 

2. Teunis Teunisen Metselaer was in Beverwyck (now 
Albany, New York) as early as 1641. He probably came to 
America with Teunis Thomasen and possibly was related to 
him. 

Probably he was a cousin, as the similarity of their chris- 
tened names would indicate. He could hardly have been a 
brother, as it is to be inferred that Teunis Thomasen was the 
son of Thomas, while Teunis Teunisen was the son of Teunis. 

Their fathers may have been brothers in Holland. 

His wife's name was Egbert] e Egberts, and they were 
probably married in Holland. They settled on the manor lands 
of the Patroon Van Rennselaer near Albany, which is authen- 
ticated by the records, still in existence, of the Manor House 
at Albany, in which the surname is given as "De Metselaer." 
He made his will August 17, 1685, and he may have died that 
year. 

He left his property to his wife and children hereafter 
named. In the Fourth generation the descendants assumed the 
name of Egberts, which was the surname of his wife, so that 
after that period no descendants of his having the name of 
Metselaer existed and the name so far as he is concerned is 
likewise extinct. 

3. Jan Adamsen Metselaer was in New Amsterdam prob- 
ably in or before 1649. ^^ 1650 he was a Corporal on the South 
River, now the Delaware River, and he returned to New Am- 
sterdam in 1654, when he is said to have been twenty-eight 
years of age. This would indicate that he was born in 1626. 

His precise birthplace in Holland is not known, but he no 
doubt emigrated from that country, where he married his wife, 
whose name was Geertje (Gertrude) Dircks. She was a mem- 
ber of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam in 1649. Under 
date of June 11, 1654, he made oath to a declaration in New 
Amsterdam, before Cornelius Van Ruyven, "admitted Secre- 
tary in the service of the West India Company in the New 
Netherlands," concerning the arrival of a Swedish ship, the 
Captain of which declared she had come to seize the Fort on 
the South River — Fort Casamier. He is also mentioned as a 
creditor of the Colony, June 14, 1664, for one pound sterling 
for powder to fill cartridges for the sloop "Mos," going with 
soldiers to the "Kill von Kol." He is also mentioned in the list 
of names of the Dutch w^ho took the oath of allegiance to the 
King of England, October 21, 22, 24 and 25, 1664, after the 
surrender of New Amsterdam to the British forces in that year. 
Abraham Metselaer, his son, also took the oath of allegiance 



14 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

at the same time. Jan Metselaer made his will January 20, 
1695, and died shortly afterwards, as his wife, Geertje, to whom 
he left the principal portion of his property, made her will on 
June 10, 1697. She was named as his executrix and he be- 
queathed to his son Abraham his large Dutch Bible and six 
shillings current money, all the remainder of his estate being 
bequeathed to his wife. She bequeathed the principal portion 
of her estate to her son, Hendrick, after providing small legacies 
to her other children. 

The name Metselaer, borne by Teunis Thomasen and Teunis 
Teunisen, having become extinct after a few generations, the 
present name of Messier has undoubtedly descended from Jan 
Adamsen Metselaer. He resided in New Amsterdam in 1665 
on Marketfield Street. This was originally called the "Oblique 
Road," and afterwards, upon the streets of the city being 
named, it was designated as the "Marckvelt Steegie," or Mar- 
ketfield path. He and his wife were members of the Reformed 
Dutch Church in New Amsterdam in 1686. 



SECOND GENERATION. 

TEUNIS THOMASEN METSELAER (i) and BE- 
LITJE JACOBS, his wife, had five children : 

4. HiLLEGOND, born in New Amsterdam (New York), bap- 
tized November 25, 1640, and married to Jacobus Teunisen Van 
Tuyl, March 29, 1658. A few years later he assumed the name 
of DeKay — from whom the DeKay family is descended. He 
was a man of ability and influence in his day. He was an ac- 
tive opponent against the usurpation of Governor Leisler, who 
caused the former's arrest and who had him dragged to the Fort 
in New Amsterdam on August 16, 1687. With others. Van 
Tuyl signed an address to King William and Queen Mary of 
England, complaining of the exercise of arbitrary power on the 
part of Governor Leisler, and praying for a redress of griev- 
ances. 

He was a member of the Reformed Dutch Church in that 
city in 1649, and an Elder in 1676, and continued to serve in 
the ofifice for several years. His wife, Hillegond, was also a 
member of that church shortly after 1649. They lived on the 
present east side of White Hall Street, New York. This street 
was at that time called Exchange Street, and was a part of the 
Marketfield and Broadway. He also owned a residence on the 
present Beaver Street, between Stone Street and the Bowling 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 15 



Green. He died in 1707, a wealthy man for tliose early days 
of the new settlement. 

5. Maritje, born in New Amsterdam and baptized March 
23, 1642. Betrothed in September, 1659, and married to Sebas- 
tian Claes Van Levenhuysen, September 20, 1659. 

6. Thomas, born as above and baptized April 24, 1644. 

7. Geertje, born as above and baptized November 12, 
1645. She married Carsten Luursen, December i, 1668. He 
was a member of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, hav- 
ing joined the church on April 6, 1667. He had previously 
married, but his first wife's name is not now known. His sec- 
ond wife, Geertje, was a member of the Dutch Church, April, 
12, 1665. They resided on the "Strand," which embraced the 
land known as the "Water Side," on the west side of White 
Hall Street, between the present State and Pearl streets, and 
the north side of Pearl Street and Hanover Square, between 
White Hall Street and Wall Street. His wealth, according to 
an early census of the city, was estimated at $7,500, which in 
those days was considered a very comfortable fortune. 

8. DiRCK, born as above and baptized July 26, 1648. He 
married Johanna Jans in 1672. On the occasion of the baptism 
of their first child, June 7, 1673, he assumed the name of Quick. 
They lived in New Amsterdam on the present Pearl Street, be- 
tween State and White Hall streets. He and his wife were 
members of the Dutch Church in 1686. At a convention in the 
City Hall, September 4, 1689, he was named as a Justice of the 
Peace. 

TEUNIS TEUNISEN METSELAER (2) and EG- 
BERTJE EGBERTS, his wife, had seven children : 

9. Maritje, born at Beverwyck (now Albany), New York. 
Married to Harmen Lieverse about 1683. They Hved at Bever- 
wyck, and she died in January, 1757, at an advanced age. 

10. Egbert, born as above. He married Maritje Barents 
Bradt about 1680. He v/as one of the Deacons in the Dutch 
Church at Beverwyck in 1687, and they resided in Beverwyck. 
He made his will December 2, 1704, and died before June 26, 
1 71 6, for on that date his will was proven. 

11. Geertje, born as above. She married Andrias Hanse 
Barheit at Beverwyck about 1684. She died there before 1699. 

12. DiRCKjE, born as above. She married Bastian Viss- 
cher about 1683. They also lived in Beverwyck, and there he 
died April 23, 1737. From them is descended one branch of 



1 6 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

the numerous Visscher family. She died in the town where 
she Hved and was interred there April 7, 1739. 

13. WiLLEMPTjE, born as above in 1662. She was married 
to Anthony Bradt, December 9, 1685. 

14. Anna, born as above in 1664, and married to Dirck 
Bradt, September 12, 1686. 

15. Martin, born as above in 1666. This young man is 
mentioned as having got into a fight with Jacobus Borsboom 
in 1687, whom he wounded in the head with a dagger, for 
which he was hauled out of bed and put in the stocks. 

JAN ADAMSEN METSELAER (3) and GEERTJE 
DIRCKS, his wife, had nine children : 

16. Sebastian, born at New Amsterdam (New York), 
and baptized September 4, 1658. 

17. Geertje, born as above and baptized in New Am,- 
sterdam, November 26, 1659. 

18. Dirck, born as above and baptized February 6, 1661. 

19. Abraham, born as above and baptized August 28, 
1662. He is supposed to have died prior to 1671. 

20. Maritje, born as above and baptized January 14, 
1665. She married Thomas J. Van Steenburgh. They had 
a daughter, Margaret, who married Cornelius De La Maistre, 
September 28, 1703. He was born at Kingston, New York, 
May 6, 1683. 

From them is descended one branch of the Delamater fam- 
ily. 

21. Barbertje, born as above and baptized September 12, 
1666. 

22. Jacobus, born as above and baptized August 5, 1668. 

23. Abraham, born as above and baptized March 22, 1671. 
He married as his first wife, Haantje Dircks, and as his sec- 
ond wife, Haantje Woertman. His third v/ife was Agnietje 
Staats. He is supposed to have been named after his brother 
Abraham, who was born in 1662, and who died about 1671. 

From him are descended the families bearing the name 
of Messier, now living in New Jersey and elsewhere. He 
is mentioned as having sold a house and lot on Petticoat 
Lane, New York, or "Marckvelt Steegie," as it was called 
in the days of the Dutch occupation. The conveyance was 
made September 23, 1713, to Benjamin James for the consid- 
eration of sixty pounds sterling. 

24. Hendrick, born as above in 1676. He married 
Johanna Clara Eyck, February 2, 1698. He is mentioned as 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 17 



having sold on August 12, 1703, to his brother Abraham, a 
house and lot on Markable Street, New York, lately the prop- 
erty of his father, Jan Adamsen Metselaer, for the' considera- 
tion of fifty pounds sterling. He is named as one of the peti- 
tioners of the Protestants of New York to King William III. 
of England, December 30, 1701, for the redress of grievances. 
He is also named as one of the signers of an "Address of the 
inhabitants of the Province of New York" to Lord Cornbury, 
Governor of New York, congratulating him on his safe ar- 
rival, and assuring him of support and expressing confidence 
in his government. 

THIRD GENERATION. 

JACOBUS* TEUNISEN VAN TUYL and HILLE- 
GOND TEUNIS METSELAER (4), his wife, had four- 
teen children : 

25. Teunis, born in New Amsterdam and baptized there 
on April 4, 1659. He married Helena Van Brugh, daughter 
of Johannes Van Brugh, April 25, 1680. Johannes Van 
Brugh was an eminent merchant and a man of influence in 
New Amsterdam. 

He occupied positions of high trust in the government of 
the city. Helena, his daughter, was born in New Amsterdam 
and baptized there, July 28, 1660. She was a member of the 
Dutch Church in 1686. Teunis was a member of the Re- 
formed Dutch Church on November 30, 1676. He was a 
merchant in New Amsterdam in good repute, and was As- 
sistant Alderman from the North Ward in 1685, '86 and '87. 
He was also one of the Church Wardens in 1698. He be- 

*Jacobus Teunisen Van Tuyl, about the year of the birth of his 
fourth child, Johannes, in 1664, assumed, for some reason which is not 
now known, the surname of De Kay. 

The changing of the family name, during the 17th century, more 
especially among the Dutch settlers, seems to have been a practice 
not unusual. 

Jacobus was one of the Elders of the Dutch Church in 1670, in 
New Amsterdam. At that time Col. Francis Lovelace, Governor of 
the Colony under the English rule, offered one thousand guilders per 
annum, a dwelling-house free of rent, and firewood gratis, to any 
minister from Holland who would take charge of the church in 
New Amsterdam. Dominie Wilhelmus Van Nieuwenhuysen was 
induced to accept this liberal offer, and, accordingly, in the summer 
of 1671. he was installed. 

The English rulers thus viirtually recognized and established the 
Dutch Church in New York. 



1 8 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



came a member of the Common Council of the city in 1689, 
which was convened in special session with the special council 
of Lieutenant Governor Nicholson to consider as to the proper 
course to pursue to keep the country quiet on the occasion of 
the imprisonment of Governor Andros by the Revolutionists 
of New England. He was elected an Alderman in the sum- 
mer of 1691. He was instrumental in the opening of Nassau 
Street, New York, in June, 1696, having successfully peti- 
tioned the Mayor and Common Council for the privilege of 
making a cartway through "the street that ran by the pie- , 
woman to the City Common." The land alongside was given • 
to him as a compensation for his labor. 

While he was an apprentice to a merchant in New York, 
he was arbitrarily arrested at the same time as his father, and 
carried to the Fort, at the instance of the usurper, Governor 
Leisler, December 23, 1689. He joined with others in signing , 
an address to King William and Queen Mary of England, 
complaining of the exercise of oppressive and unauthorized 
power on the part of Governor Leisler, and praying for a re- 
dress of grievances. He lived on Bridge Street in New Am- 
sterdam. 

26. Janneken, born in New Amsterdam and baptized 
there December 15, 1660. She died early in life, and the next 
daughter was given the same name in 1665. 

27. Johannes, born as above and baptized January 28, 
1662. He died in infancy and the next son was named for 
him in 1664. 

28. Johannes, born as above and baptized June 8, 1664. 
This child also must have died early, as the next son was also 
baptized in 1668, with the same name. At this period, 1664, 
Jacobus Van Tuyl, the father, assumed the name of De Kay. 

29. Janneken, born as above and baptized November 
28, 1665. She married Jeremiah Tothill, May 31, 1686. He 
was an Englishman who had established himself in New York 
after its capture from the Dutch by the British forces in 1664. 
He occupied a position of repute and good standing there. 

He joined with others in signing the address, before re- 
ferred to, to King William and Queen Mary, complaining_ of 
the arbitrary powers assumed by Governor Leisler and asking ■ 
that he be removed from his office. He also was a signer of 
the petition of the New Amsterdam Protestants to the King 
on December 30, 1701, praying for the redress of certain 
grievances. He was also a signer of the address of the inhab- 
itants of the Province of New York to Lord Cornbury, the 



I 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 19 



new Governor, on October 2, 1702, in which address they 
assured Lord Cornbury of their loyalty and promised sup- 
port to his administration. 

30. Johannes, born in New Amsterdam and baptized July 
18, 1668. This child, being- the third of that name in that 
family, also died in infancy. 

31. Agnietje, born as above and baptized July 6, 1670. 
She was a member of the Dutch Church, September 3, 1688. 
She was married to Henricus De Meyer, April 27, 1689. He 
was a prominent and successful merchant in New York, where 
he died about 1694. Agnietje married as hej second husband, 
William Janeway, on August 11, 1695. He was an English- 
man who came to New York in 1693, as Purser of His Ma- 
jesty's ship "Richmond," commanded by Capt. John Evans. 
Mr. Janeway was admitted as a freeman of the city in 1695. 
In 1700 he was acting as Captain Evans' agent, to whom an 
extensive grant of land had been made, about forty miles long 
and twenty in width, lying on the west side of the Hudson 
River. This grant was afterwards canceled. William Jane- 
way was a Vestryman of Trinity Church in 1697, and also 
from 1702 to 1704. He was generally esteemed as an influ- 
ential citizen. 

32. Jacobus, born as above and baptized November 23 
1672. In 1694 he married Sarah Willet, a daughter of Col 
Thomas Willet, of Flushing, Long Island. 

33. Maritje, born as above and baptized January 27 
1675. She married Pieter Belyn, a v/idower, October 28 
1699. 

34. Samuel, bom as above and baptized April 4, 1677 
This son died in childhood. 

35. Johannes, born as above and baptized April i, 1679 

36. Rachel, born as above and baptized August 25, 1680 
This daughter also died in infancy. 

37. Samuel, born as above and baptized December 20 
1682. 

38. Rachel, born as above and baptized September 26, 
1686. 

SEBASTIAN CLAES VAN LEVENHUYSEN and 
MARITJE TEUNIS METSELAER (5), his wife, had one 
child : 

39. Belitje, born in New Amsterdam and baptized June 
13, 1660. 



20 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

CARSTEN LUURSEN and GEERTJE TEUNIS MET- 
SELAER (7), his wife, had eleven children: 

40. Maritje, born in New Amsterdam and baptized May 
25, 1670. She married Johannes Van der Spiegel, April 16, 
1688. 

41. Carsten, born as above and baptized July 10, 1672. 
On June i, 1692, he married Petronella Van der Heul, a daugh- 
ter of Abraham Van der Heul and Tryntje Hendricks Kip. 
Petronella was born in Amsterdam, Holland. 

42. Anna, born as above and baptized September 19, 
1674. About the year 1700 she was married to Johannes Jan- 
sen. 

43. Teunis, born as above and baptized October 17, 
1676. 

44. Aeltje, born as above and baptized December 9, 1678. 

45. Johannes, born as above and baptized April 19, 1681. 

46. Henricus, bom as above and baptized March 7, 1683. 

47. Belitje, born as above and baptized December 20, 
1684. She married Albert de Vries on September 11, 1699. 
She died prior to August 16, 1703, as on that day her husband 
married Emmetje Van Dyck. 

48. Geertruydt, born as above and baptized June 14, 1686. 
This child died in infancy. 

49. Samuel^ born as above and baptized November 6, 
1687. 

50. Geertruydt, born as above and baptized April 5, 1691. 

DIRCK TEUNISEN METSELAER (8) and JOHAN- 
NA JANS, his wife, had three children : 

51. Teunis, born in New Amsterdam and baptized June 
7, 1673. At this time Dirck Metselaer assumed the name of 
Quick, the reason for which is not known. 

52. Elizabeth^ born as above and baptized September 13, 
1680. 

53. Maritje^ born as above and baptized September 13, 
1680, these two last children being twins. 

EGBERT METSELAER (10) and MARITJE BAR- 
ENT BRADT, his wife, had seven children : 

54. Teunis, born in Albany about 1681. He married En- 
geltje Beeckman, daughter of Martin Hendrick Beeckman and 
Susanna Jans, February 28, 1716. 

55. DiRCKjE, born about 1683. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 21 

56. Barent, born as above and baptized in 1684. He mar- 
ried as his first wife Maritje De Garmoux, daughter of Pierre 
De Garmoux and Caatje Van Der Hey den, August 26, 1704. 
His second wife was Elsie Van Lorn, widow of Omi La 
Grange, whom he married in June, 1727. Maritje, the first 
wife, died and was buried at Albany, January 9, 1725. 

57. Benjamin^ born as above and baptized March 28, 
1686. He married Annetje Visscher, daughter of Tierck Har- 
mense Visscher and Femmitje Jans, about 17 10. She died and 
was interred at Albany, October 22, 1753. 

58. Jeremiah, born as above and baptized December 4, 
1687. 

59. Susanna, born as above and baptized January 20, 
1689. She married Jacob Tierck Visscher, June 21, 1709. 
They had no children. 

60. Geertje^ born as above and baptized December 6, 
1690. 

BASTIAN VISSCHER and DIRCKJE METSELAER 
(12), his wife, had seven children : 

61. Hester, born in Albany and baptized May 17, 1684. 
She married Eldert Cornelius Tymensen, October 28, 1709. 

62. Maria, born as above and baptized October 10, 1686. 
She married Evert Ryckse Van Vranken, November 14, 1709. 

63. Geertruydt, born as above and baptized August 20, 
1693. She married Samuel Cregier, May 20, 1716. 

64. Anna, born as above and baptized April 26, 1696. 
She was married to Dirck Newkirk, October 19, 1718. 

65. Harmanus, bom as above and baptized January 5, 
1700. He married, on August 4, 1731, Sarah Wyngaart. 

66. Teunis, born as above and baptized April 3, 1702. He 
married Machtel Lansing, January 10, 1727. 

67. Egbert JE, born as above and baptized in 1703. She 
married Johannes De Garmoux, or De Garmo, October 9, 
1719. 

THOMAS J. VAN STEENBURGH and MARITJE 
METSELAER '(20), his wife, had one child: 

68. Margaret, born in New Amsterdam and baptized in 
1685. She married Cornelius De La Maistre, September 28, 
1703. He was bom at Esopus (now Kingston, New York), 
May 6, 1683. 

From them is descended one branch of the Delamater fam- 
ily. 



2 2 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



ABRAHAM METSELAER (23) and HAANTJE 
DIRCKS, his wife, had two children : 

69. Johannes, born in New Amsterdam and baptized De- 
cember 16, 1694. His wife's Christian name was Catryntje. 
Her surname is not known. Early in life, some time prior tO' 
1717, he removed to the valley of the Raritan River in New 
Jersey, where he purchased a farm in what is now Franklin 
Township in Somerset County, in the neighborhood of the 
present village of Middlebush. He was one of the original 
subscribers to the organization of the First Reformed Dutch 
Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey, which was effected 
on August I, 1 71 7. He was a Deacon of that church in 1749 
and an Elder in 1754. He is also named as one of the cor- 
porate members of the Five Churches of New Brunswick, 
Raritan, Six Mile Run, Millstone and North Branch in 1753. 
The Charter of the Five Churches was granted by Jonathan 
Belcher on the seventh of June of that year. 

Johannes Metselaer was a man of very decided religious 
convictions. When Whitefield appeared in New Brunswick, 
he was among his first hearers and one of Whitefield's most 
ardent admirers. He followed him from place to place and 
never failed to hear him, if possible. He adhered also to 
Reverend Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, and though his name 
does not appear in any public proceedings, no one stood by the 
cause of spiritual Christianity more stoutly than he did. 

As a Christian man he was eminent, loving the truth and 
walking in it all his days. There were but few men in the 
old colonial days who knew the truth and had experience of 
its power, or who believed in salvation through grace, but 
he was one of them. His farm was situated at Middlebush, 
on the road leading from Cedar Grove to Middlebush, and the 
house, which is still standing, or was a few years since, is the 
first one north of the road to Weston, on the east side. 

Here he came in the autumn and here he built himself a 
temporary lodgment, in which he passed the first winter. 

His farm in 1733 consisted of fifty acres, for which, with 
his live stock, he was taxed one pound, two shillings and two 
pence. Afterwards, in 1749, he purchased of Thomas Otto, 
an additional one and a half acres, for five pounds and eight 
shillings. He purchased additional lands at other times, for, 
from conveyances still in existence, it appears that his son 
Abraham sold one hundred and thirty-two acres as his part of 
the paternal estate, and another son, Cornelius, sold one hun- 
dred and thirty acres, in all two hundred and sixty-two acres, 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 23 

as the homestead of Johannes. Besides these lands, he owned 
a farm of one hundred and three acres in Washington Valley. 

He died on the homestead farm in 1761. His will is dated 
May 20, 1760, and it was probated March 6, 1761.* 

70. PiETER, born in New Amsterdam and baptized Feb- 
ruary 7, 1697. He married Maritje, whose surname is like- 
wise unknown. He also removed to New Jersey, at or about 
the same time as his brother Johannes, it is supposed. They 
were together at Middlebush in Somerset County in 1735, 
when at this time Pieter was taxed for his farm of one hundred 
acres and his live stock one pound, five shillings and two 
pence. 

He was a member of the Reformed Dutch Church of New 
Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1732. He made his will June 20, 

*The last will and testament of Johannes Metselaer was pub- 
lished in full in the New Brunswick (N. J.) "Times" of April 4, 
1891, as a curious local antiquity. The newspaper clipping states that 
the will was admitted to probate on the 6th of March, 1761, with the 
seal of Charles Read, Esqr., Register, under the "gracious sanction of 
Thomas Boone, Esqr,, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over 
His Majesty's Province of New Jersey and Territories therein depend- 
ing in America." 

It is described as being in a good state of preservation, the mate- 
rial being heavy old parchment, which might have served as a Revolu- 
tionary drum-head. The will follows : 

In the name of God, Amen, the twentieth day of May, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty, I, Johannes Mes- 
selaer, in the County of Somerset and Province of East New Jersey, 
farmer, being in good health in body & perfect mind and memory, 
thanks be given unto God therefor, calling unto mind the mortality 
of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, 
do make & ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say: — 
principally & first of all I give & recommend my soul into the hands 
of God that gave it & for my body I recommend it to the earth to be 
buried in a Christianlike & decent manner of the discretion of my 
Executors hereafter mentioned, nothing doubting but at the general 
resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty Power of 
God. As touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God 
to bless me with in this Life, I give and dispose of the same in the 
following manner & Form. Imprimis, I order that all my just debts 
and all my funeral expenses be well and truly paid and discharged out 
of my estate. Then I give, devise, order & bequeath unto Catrine, my 
beloved wife, that she shall be maintained out of my estate by my chil- 
dren and each of them to pay an equal part towards maintaining of 
her, and if she requires it that they shall pay her twenty Pounds a 
year, that is yearly, as long as she remains my widow, current Jersey 
money at eight shillings pr. ounce, which will be for each of them 
to give to their mother yearly three Pounds, six Shillings & eight 
Pence, that is to say, my son Abraham Messeler, or his heirs, to pay 
to his mother Catrine yearly the Sum of three Pounds, six Shillings 
& eight Pence, and my son Cornelius Messeler, or his heirs, to pay to 



24 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

1761, which was recorded May 25, 1765, so that he died 
shortly before the latter date. 

HENDRICK METSELAER (24) and JOHANNA 
CLARA EYCK, his wife, had one child : 

71. Johannes, born in New Amsterdam and baptized Sep- 
tember 9, 1699. 



FOURTH GENERATION. 

TEUNIS EGBERTS METSELAER (54) and EN- 
GELTJE BEECKMAN, his wife, had ten children: 

y2. Maritje, born at Albany, New York, and baptized 
July 15, 1717. 

his mother Catrine yearly the sum of three Pounds, six Shillings & eight 
Pence, and my son Peter Messeler, or his heirs, to pay his Mother 
Catrine yearly three Pounds, six Shillings & eight Pence, and my 
daughter Eaffie, the wife of Jacob Buyse, or her heirs, to pay her mother 
Catrine yearly three Pounds, six Shillings & eight Pence, and my 
Daughter Hampje, the wife of Johannes Connelie, or her heirs, to pay 
to her mother Catrine yearly three Pounds, six shillings & eight Pence, 
and my daughter Sarah, the wife of Jacobus Stryker, or her heirs, to 
pay to her Mother Catrine yearly three Pounds, six shillings and eight 
Pence, all being Jersey money at eight shillings pr. Oz. Then it is my 
further will that all my real & Personal Estate be sold forth with after 
my decease to the best advantage, according to the discretion of my 
Executors, and that it be equally divided amongst my Children, and that 
it be divided into six equal Parts excepting my Son Abraham to have 
five Pounds money as afores'd, above the sixth part for his birth right 
to him and his heirs and assigns forever, and to my Son Cornelius 
one sixth part to him and his heirs and assings forever, and to my Son 
Peter one sixth part to him and his heirs & assings forever, and to my 
Daughter Eaffie, the wife of Jacob Buyse, one sixth part to her and her 
heirs & assings forever, and to my Daughter Sarah, the wife of Jacobus 
Stryker, one sixth Part to her and her heirs & assings forever, and it 
is my further will if any of my Children should die without heirs that 
the part so bequeathed shall be equally divided amongst the remaining 
children Share and Share alike, and lastly Too I hereby nominate, con- 
stitute & Appoint my lowing Sons Abraham & Cornelius Messier, with 
my loving Friend John Brokaw, to be my executors of this my last 
will and testament & do hereby revoke, disannul & make void all former 
wills and testaments by me at any time heretofore made, declaring this 
to be my last will & testament. In testimony whereof I, the sajid Testa- 
tor, Johannes Messeler, to this my last will & Testament have sett 
my hand and Seal the day and year first above written. Signed, sealed, 
Published, declared and delivered by the said Testator Johannes Mes- 
seler his last will & Testament in the Presence of those witnesses whose 
names are hereunto subscribed. Johannes Messeler. (L. S.) 

John Aten, Thomas Aten, 

Mich. Vanderbelt. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



73. Neeltje^ born as above and baptized June 30, 1718. 

74. Susanna,, born as above and baptized March 30, 1720. 

75. Lena^ born as above and baptized August 30, 1721. 
This child died early. 

76. Egbert^ born as above and baptized June 16, 1723, 
'jj. Lena, bom as above and baptized August 23, 1725. 

She also died when a child. 

78. Anna, born as above and baptized October i, 1727, 

79. Maria, born as above and baptized January 4, 1730. 

80. Lena, born as above and baptized March 11, 1733. 

81. Martin, born as above and baptized June 3, 1736. 

BARENT EGBERTS METSELAER (56) and MAR- 
ITJE DE GARMOUX, his wife, had six children: 

82. Egberts Teunis, born at Albany, New York, and bap- 
tized January 13, 1706. 

83. Pieter, born as above and baptized September 19, 
1708. 

84. Maritje, born as above and baptized February 10, 
1712. 

85. Catrina, born as above and baptized January 23, 

1715- 

86. Susanna, born as above and baptized April 6, 1718. 

87. Jacob, born as above and baptized September 13, 1724. 
No children are recorded as bom of the second marriage. 

BENJAMIN EGBERTS METSELAER (57) and AN- 
NETJE VISSCHER, his wife, had four children : 

88. Egberts Teunisse, Jr., born at Albany, New York, 
and baptized March 4, 171 1. His first wife was Rachel, her 
surname being unknown. He married Maria Lents as his sec- 
ond wife. He made his will in 1771, in which he mentions 
his wife Maria and the estate that came to him by right of his 
mother, Annetje Visscher, according to the will of her father, 
Tierck Harmense Visscher. Egberts Metselaer died shortly 
after making his will. 

89. Maritje, born as above and baptized February 21, 
1714. She married Jacob L. Lansing, Jr., November 6, 1742. 
He was born July 12, 1714, and died January 18, 1791. His 
wife died March 9, 1791. He was an officer in the Revolu- 
tionary Army, and commanded a regiment at the battle of 
Still Water. 



26 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

When a Captain he was in the "Middle Fort" at Schoharie, 
New York, when it was attacked by Sir John Johnson and 
the Indians under Brandt. 

90. Femmetje, born as above and baptized January 16, 
1717. 

91. Lena, the date of whose birth and baptism is not 
known. 

JOHAN'NES METSELAER (69) and CATRYNTJE, 
his wife, had six children : 

92. Abraham, born in Franklin Township, Somerset 
County, New Jersey, about 1723. He married, but the name 
of his wife is not known. In December, 1766, he subscribed 
one pound, five shillings towards the erection of the first house 
of worship at Millstone, New Jersey. But little is known con- 
cerning him and his wife, except that they were eminent ex- 
amples of good nature and general favorites in the neighbor- 
hood. When and where they died has not been ascertained, 
but it is probable it was in the township. He lived during 
the latter part of his life with his brother Cornelius at Somer- 
ville and died at an advanced age without issue. 

93. Cornelius^ born as above, December i, 1725. He 
married, first, Lena Simonson. His second wife was Maria 
Dorlandt of Sourland, New Jersey. She was a member of 
the Reformed Dutch Church of North Branch, January 10, 
1774. He married as his third wife Ariantje Van Arsdalen, 
also of Sourland. After the division of the paternal estate, 
he purchased a farm on the Millstone River, about a mile and 
a half above Griggstown, lately owned by Peter Van der Veer, 
where he resided until after the death of his first wife. He 
was living there in August, 1767, when he gave a bond to 
Elizabeth Gorlet of Amboy, New Jersey, in conjunction with 
his brother-in-law, Garret Dorlandt. On April 3, 1753, he 
purchased of his father a farm containing one hundred and 
three acres, situated in the Washington Valley, on the road 
leading from Somerville to Baskingridge, New Jersey, on the 
east side of the road, contiguous to lands owned by Robert 
Bolmer. 

It is supposed that he did not reside on this property, or, if 
he 4id, that it was only for a year or two. He seems to have 
taken it through some family arrangement, which is not now 
apparent. After residing for some years in the vicinity of 
Rocky Hill, his first wife having died, he and his brother-in- 
law, Abraham Simonson, agreed upon the division between 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 27 

them of five hundred acres of land, lying between the Lam- 
ington and Rockaway rivers, in the Township of Readington, 
Hunterdon County, New Jersey. This farm, after an addition 
to it of fifty acres, purchased of a Mr. Bergen on the west 
side, came into the possession of his son Cornelius, where the 
latter resided until his death in November. 1843. While Cor- 
nelius, senior, lived there he was a constant attendant at the 
First Reformed Dutch Church of Somerville. He was a 
member of that church in 1762. It is related that his convey- 
ance was a two-horse chaise set upon lofty springs, with 
spreading wings serving to keep out the wind. He was a fast 
driver, and it is said that his vehicle had such a rattle that it 
was not difficult to hear it for a mile distant. The children 
and servants thus had timely warning and took care to put 
everything in order before it made its appearance with its occu- 
pant. Having become somewhat advanced in his years and 
desiring to remain near some well-ordered and regularly sup- 
plied church, he exchanged his farm with his son, Cornelius, 
and came to reside near Somerville. Here he often served in 
the Eldership, and he was generally selected to accompany the 
Dominie when he went to perform family visitation, on account 
of his earnest and practical religious spirit. 

He was a member from New Brunswick of the General 
Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church, which met in New 
York, October 3, 1786. After a few years, when his son Lucas 
was married, he sold his farm near Somerville, and purchased 
another in the neighborhood of Peapack, a few miles north of 
Somerville, upon which Lucas lived for several years, while he 
himself bought a house on New Street, in the city of New 
Brunswick, where he lived until his death on May 25, 1806. 
His remains were interred in the Cemetery belonging to the 
First Reformed Dutch Church, on the east side, and a stone 
yet marks the spot. 

His first wife was buried in the cemetery of the church 
at Griggstown. His second wife died March 8, 1777, but the 
place of her interment is not now known. His third wife and 
h(s daughter Maria lie by his side. The first wife, Lena Sim- 
onson, is spoken of by her grandson, the late Rev. Dr. 
Abraham Messier, as a neat, prim little old lady, with an air 
of town about her, pleasant, quiet, affable and easily ap- 
proached. All her relations honored her, because thev thought 
she was too good and too kind to merit any other treatment. 

She was a fine illustration of the Dutch Colonial lady of the 
olden time. Her piety was eminent and intelligent. 



28 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



Of the second wife, Maria Dorlandt, but little is recorded. 

The third wife, Ariantje Van Arsdalen, was an example 
of propriety and industry. She was generally engaged in 
knitting, when household cares did not occupy her attention, 
with her Bible open before her. In the morning, when the 
family came to breakfast, it always rested open on her lap, 
as if she had been reading it. She was polite and rather 
formal in her address, intelligent, especially on religious sub- 
jects, talkative and speaking in preference the Dutch language, 
but also English quite as properly, as it was ordinarily spoken, 
quiet and unobtrusive, but pleased when any attention was 
shown her, and never in any mood but that of perfect self- 
possession. 

Dr. Messier speaks of her as a person who was superior 
in the essential qualities of a Christian woman. 

94. Neeltje, or Effie, born as above about 1727. She 
was married to Jacobus Buys, who was a farmer, and they 
lived in Franklin Township, Somerset County. He made his 
will on March 6, 1764, which was probated August 26, 1771, 
so that he died shortly before the latter date. His wife sur- 
vived him. 

95. Hampje, bom as above about 1728. She married Jo- 
hannes Powelson, a farmer in that neighborhood. 

96. Sarah, born as above about 1729. She married Jacobus 
Stryker. She died, it is thought, in 1799. Her husband was 
born probably in 1726 and died in Belleville, New Jersey, 
January 5, 1820. Both were enrolled as members of the Re- 
formed Dutch Church of New Brunswick, October 23, 1789. 

97. PiETER, born as above and baptized at New Brunswick, 
May 30, 1730. His wife's name wa5 Ariantje, her family 
name being unknown. He made his will June 20, 1761, which 
was recorded May 25, 1765, so that he died probably shortly 
before the latter date. 

PIETER METSELAER (70) and MARITJE, his wife, 
had three children: 

98. Jacobus, born in Franklin Township, Somerset 
County, New Jersey, and baptized at New Brunswick, about 

1725- 

99. Abraham, born as above and baptized November 4, 
1727. 

100. Ariantje, born as above and baptized also at New 
Brunswick, October 10, 1736. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 29 



FIFTH GENERATION. 

EGBERT TEUNISSE METSELAER (88) and 
RACHEL, his wife, had five children: 

loi. Barent, born at Albany, N. Y., and baptized August 
10, 1728. 

102. John, born as above and baptized February 25, 1731. 

103. Petrus, born as above and baptized March 18, 1733. 

104. Rebecca, born as above and baptized April 13, 1735. 

105. Maria, born as above and baptized December 12, 

1739- 

By his second wife he had four children : 

106. Abraham, born as above and baptized July 6, 1743. 

107. Annetje, born as above and baptized April 25, 1746. 

108. Anthony, born as above and baptized July 10, 1752. 

109. Jacob Visscher, born as above and baptized January 
29, 1758. He made a will and died about 1784. 

About the time of the birth of Jacob the family dropped 
the name of "Metselaer" and assumed the name of "Eo^berts," 
which was the maiden surname of the wife of Teunis Teunis- 
sen Metselaer. 

JACOB L. LANSING, JR., and MARITJE METSE- 
LAER (89), his wife, had nine children: 

no. Helena, bom November 7, 1743. She married Jere- 
miah Van Rensselaer. 

111. Benjamin, born November 5, 1744. He died early. 

112. Annetje, born July 11, 1746. She died November 7, 
1824. Her husband was Abraham Ten Eyck, whom she mar- 
ried April 14, 1769. 

113. Elsje, born July 28, 1748. She married Abraham A. 
Lansing, December 4, 1797, and died July 20, 1811. 

114. Benjamin, born June 30, 1750, and died in infancy. 

115. Femmetje, born July 2, 1751, and died March 27, 
1807. She married Jacob G. Lansing, August 28, 1774- He 
died June 21, 1794. 

116. Jacob, born August 19, 1753. He married Annetje 
Quackenbush, January 21, 1790. 

117. Mary, born December 5, 1755. She married Hun- 
loke Woodruff, a physician, May 16, 1799. 

118. Benjamin, bom A_ugust 6, 1757. 



30 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

CORNELIUS METSELAER (93), or MESSELER, as 
the name at this time was frequently spelled, and LENA 
SIMONSON, his wife, had three children: 

119. JoHN^ born September 8, 1753. He died when a boy, 
January 26, 1760. 

120. Lena, born January 7, 1756, and baptized February 
4, 1756, at Somerville, New Jersey. Her husband was Fred- 
erick Van Liew. She died in 1777, without issue. 

*i2i. Cornelius, born February 9, 1759, and baptized 

*This son, Corneliu9 Messelaer, who was born in 1759, was the 
father of the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Messier of Somerville, New 
Jersey. By reason of military service in the War of the Revolution 
the right of membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution has 
descended from this ancestor to the editor, a great-grandson. Dr. 
Messier, in his private notes, now in possession of the editor, has drawn 
a pen picture of his parents, which affords a striking illustration of 
rural domestic life in the latter half of the i8th century. 

The picture may not be without interest, and for the sake of pre- 
serving that which might otherwise become forgotten and lost, what 
Dr. Messier has recorded from personal recollection is here reproduced : 

"Cornelius Messier, my father, born February 9, 1759, married 
Maria Stryker, a daughter of Dennis Stryker and Lena Hoagland of 
South Branch, New Jersey. She was born January i, 1762, and bap- 
tized February 21st of that year. They were married November 15, 
1781, at her father's house. 

"They commenced life on the farm northwest of Somerville, and 
resided there for the space of twelve years, when they removed to the 
old homestead on the Lamington River, where they continued to reside 
the remainder of their lives, both dying in the old mansion-house. 
Their remains lie interred at White House in the ground where the old 
church stood. 

"My father and mother both made a profession of religion lin early 
life, and justified it by pure and holy lives. My earliest recollection 
refers to many things in which their piety was manifested to counsels 
and warnings of the evils of unrighteousness. The domestic altar was a 
permanent institution, and morning and evening sacrifices of prayer and 
praise were offered upon it by the whole household. My father read 
a chapter of God's word himself and then offered an earnest and appro- 
priate prayer, not always in the same words, as if he had learned it by 
rote, but so varied as to suit circumstances and meet the principal exi- 
gencies of the family life. We became so accustomed to this that we 
felt something had been neglected whenever we had been prevented from 
being present, and the fruits of it were seen in the decidedly religious 
character of all the children who grew up an that home, so effectually 
consecrated by "grayer. I think every one of the children, with per- 
haps one exception, made an early profession of religion, and have 
since lived a religious life. 

"Indeed, there was no sentiment so prominent every day, in all 
the intercourse of our home, as that piety was first, best, and necessary 
more than anj^thing else. 

"My father was early selected as an officer in the church at Rari- 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 3 1 



March 25, 1759. He married Maria Stryker, November 15, 
T781. She died October 25, 1832. He was a farmer and re- 
sided at White House, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where 
he died November 28, 1843. 

CORNELIUS MESSELER, SR., and MARIA DOR- 
LANDT, his second wife, had six children : 

122. Lametje, born May 10, 1761, and baptized at Somer- 
ville, June 14, 1761. She married Abraham Powelson, who 

tan, Bedminster, and White House. He bore his part in ruling as well 
as in sustaining the church. He was one of the few men who built the 
church at White House, and he stood by it heart and hand as long as 
he lived, being more than half the time one of the elders. To the 
prosperity of that church he gave much time and not a little money. 
In fact, I may say, it shared more largely in his property than any one of 
his children did. It was a weak church, and hence the calls were many 
upon the purses of the men who had pledged themselves to see it main- 
tained, and I never saw him falter or heard him complain. It seemed 
to be what he expected and he met cheerfully every demand by a gift 
which expressed at once his hearty concurrence and his sense of what 
his position in the world demanded from him. He was a Christian, not 
in the observances of the ordinances of Christian religion only, but 
by a manifestation of its generous and noble spirit of self-denial and 
charity also. He sought always to do his duty as a Christian. Whatever 
was pure and true and godlike met his approbation and secured his 
co-operation. He was a man of peace. In his own house peace reigned, 
and in his intercourse with his neighbors he always studied the things 
that make peace. He was a noble-minded man. No one that I ever 
knew in all my acquaintance seemed to reprobate and condemn more 
strictly everything that was mean and selfish. His word was as good 
as his bond, or note of hand. He never sued a man for a debt, and was 
himself never sued, nor forced by legal process to pay any sum of money- 

"I have heard him relate an instance of a man who failed and 
took the benefit of the insolvent laws, who owed him quite a sum of 
money. He never spoke to him on the subject while the difficulties 
lasted and others were enforcing their claims, but waited until he had 
again commenced business. Then one day he referred to the claim 
v;hich he held against him and asked him to settle it. 'Certainly,' was 
the reply, T will pay you' at such a time. He called upon him at the 
appointed time, but the man was not able to meet hiis engagement, and 
appointed another time. He called again, but still he had no money; 
but finally he paid him every cent. And that man was his fast friend 
ever after, and he always believed that if he had attempted to enforce the 
claim it would never have been paid. His maxim was that kindness 
to a debtor was surer than the law in securing the payment of a debt. 
When he was convinced that the debtor was unable to pay he preferred 
£0 forgive him, rather than attempt to recover by law. 

"His children always respected him and obeyed him strictly. Even 
when his sons had come to maturity his known wishes were to them 
more than law. When he had said 'No,' they knew there was an end 
of the matter and yielded at once to his decision. 



32 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

was born February 21, 1755, and who died April 26, 1809. 
He was buried in the churchyard at Bedminster, New Jer- 
sey. He was a farmer and resided near Pluckemin, a village 
not far from Somerville. His wife died February 2, 1836, and 
was buried beside him. 

123. Garret, born June 26, 1764, and baptized August 
22, 1764. He died in early youth, August 2, 1777. 

124. John, born January 10, 1768. This child also died 
early, August 17, 1777. 

"He was a grave man, great in his kindness, but never weak nor 
mirthful, just and kind in all his ways, considerate of circumstances and 
indulgent, but seldom indulging in laughter. Happy, but sober and 
serious, our home was indeed happy, but it was never merry nor 
thoughtless. He had no difficulty in governing his children or servants, 
because they knew that he never required anything but what was reason- 
able and right. He was so truthful and just that no one pretended to 
refuse when he had decided upon a course of action, or considered that 
some other might be preferable. His character was a combination of 
dignity, justice and honor. He could be kind and condescending, but he 
was never weak. He so respected himself that he secured the respect 
of all who knew him, and most of all those who were in daily inter- 
course with him. When the Sabbath came all secular employments 
were intermitted and nothing was even suffered (except a storm of 
great violence) to prevent the family from attending on the services 
of the sanctuary. When he first removed to the old homestead, there 
was no Dutch church nearer than Bedminster, a distance of six miles, 
and to reach it it was necessary to traverse two miles of road through 
his own farm and those which joined it. Gates were to be opened and 
bars to be taken down and put up, making the passage almost laborious ; 
but this was never regarded as a reason why the family conveyance 
•should not be placed in requisition, and the passage effected. In winter 
when the weather was severe and the river frozen and mother unable to 
attend, he would take his staff and set forth on foot, walking the whole 
distance across the fields and through the woods, in a straight line to the 
church ; and I remember to have heard lit said that for a whole year not a 
single Sabbath came that it did not find him in his place in the church. 

"The conveyance which had done duty for many years and was yet 
in existence when I was young, was a kind of carriage on wooden 
springs, with a capacious body with curtains and a permanent top, 
cushioned and lined in the inside with leather. It was not very elegant 
nor pretentious, but commodious and comfortable, while it contained 
seats to accommodate six persons, one of which was the driver. When 
it set out he himself generally preceded on foot and opened the way, 
until the public road was reached. Then he took his seat and it went 
on to its destination, slowly always, for, as a merciful man, he never for- 
got to be merciful to his horses. There were in that day only two 
family carriages of more pretension and cost in the neighborhood. One 
which was really a carriage in the proper sense, belonged to Dr. Bar- 
net of New Germantown, and the other to Evert Bergen, our neigh- 
bor on the west. 

"About the time that I began to prepare for college, our carriage 
gave out, and as there was about the same time a tax imposed on car- 
riages with springs, it was set aside and never repaired. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 33 



125. Lucus, born September 12, 1770. He married Mar- 
garet Vliet, March 22, 1795. 

126. Sarah, born January 21, 1773. On October 25, 1791, 
she married Richard Drake, who was born February 4, 1767. 
They hved for several years near Somerville, afterwards re- 
moving to Ovid, Seneca County, New York, where she died 
in September, 1826, He died in Monroe County, New York, 
May 18, 1840. 

127. Jacob^ born September 29, 1775, and died about 
1780. 

"My father and mother grew up just before the Revolution, when 
the opportunities of acquiring a fair education were not good ; and 
yet neither of them were deficient. Both of them read Vv^ell, wrote and 
reckoned enough to enable them to transact all their necessary business. 
We had in the house a small collection of books, chiefly of a religious 
character, for Sunday reading. Music was cultivated and all the sons 
older than I sang the common church music so well' that several of them 
acted as choristers in the church. Sabbath afternoons and evenings 
were often devoted to singing and so made to pass pleasantly by. My 
mother was a woman of a strong and clear mind, with a kind of native 
refinement and delicacy which threw around her the air of a lady ; and 
until I went to college and began to mingle in more cultivated society, 
I had never seen a woman who was her superior in intelligence, deli- 
cacy of mind and native culture. It was her business on Sabbath 
evenings to bring up the catechism and have it recited. She did not 
make a task of it, had no set lessons, and never went to the length 
of fixing the number of answers to be given; but we expected to be 
called up and took care to be provided with a reasonable portion. 
Indeed, I liked my mother's catechizing. She had a kind way of doing 
it. She spoke kindly to us. She often recited a hymn for us, which 
she had committed to memory and I remember more than one of them 
to-day. They were uniformly sweet, devotional hymns. Or again she 
had some little narrative to give. 

"So we never thought it dull or onerous to recite our catechism. 
It was the way in which it was taught that made it agreeable, and 
there was no effort visible. We always considered that it was only our 
mother's way of doing things. She easily carried away the hearts of her 
children. 

"She had been beautiful when she was young, and with her persua- 
sive manner must have been more than usually interesting as a girl 
in her early years. 

"My father had a personal deformity which increased with his 
years, and became at last onerous and mortifying. It was a wen on the 
end of his nose. When a young man it was about the size of a cherry, 
but before he died it had increased to the size of an apple. He sought 
medical advice more than once in regard to its removal, but it was not 
considered safe to make the attempt; and he bore it all his days. When 
he was dead it lay flaccid, like a piece of thin white skin, upon his fea- 
tures, the blood by which it had been distended having all left it. I think 
his patience under such an affliction was not one of the least evidences 
of his Christian character. It certainly required heroism to bear it as 
he did. 



34 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

CORNELIUS MESSELER, SR., and ARIANTJE VAN 
ARSDALEN, his third wife, had one child: 

128. Maria^ born November 4, 1778. She married Dennis 
Van Liew. She died at 'New Brunswick, N. J., August 25, 
1832, without issue. 

JACOBUS BUYS and NEELTJE (EFFIE) MET- 
SELAER (94), his wife, had five children, but it has not been 
possible to ascertain the dates of their births, baptisms or 

"As I knew my father he was not a laboring man, though certainly 
he merited the title of being an industrious man. He rose early and 
set his work in motion. He saw it go on and took care to have it well 
done and with no time lost, but he superintended more than he labored. 
Light work he at times attempted for a little while, in harvest and 
hay-making time, but I never saw him plow or mow hay, or handle the 
cradle. He saw that every one else attended to his own appropriate 
employment, and then he went away and did the errands, to the black- 
smith shop, the store, the shoemaker's and the tailor's, all most com- 
monly on foot, and never in any other way unless, as necessarily was 
the case at times, there was something to take which was too heavy for 
him to carry. But he never lingered lin any of these places a moment 
longer than was required to have his work done. If there was anything 
new to relate when he returned, such as accidents, sickness, or death, 
he would speak of it in a simple way when all heard him, probably at the 
table, and then it was done. 

"Trifling things, like jokes or ordinary anecdotes, he never repeated, 
not even in his lighter moods. His talk was grave, serious and worthy 
of a sensible man, and he uniformly appeared to be impressed with the 
seriousness of life. 

"The servants of our family, as I remember it, consisted of an old 
colored man, who had been originally purchased by my grandfather 
from an African trader in the city of New York, when a boy of eight 
or ten years of age. He was a native of the old slave continent, and his 
name was Tom. He was probably one of a cargo of slaves which 
arrived at New York August 17, 1764, in the ship "Gideon." There 
were three hundred of them, "a poor assortment," but Tom proved 
to be a man and a Christian. The supposition was that he was about 
the same age as my father's, and they grew up together. He was a 
permanent and, I may say, a prominent member of the family. Beside 
him there was from time to time a female servant, and as a conse- 
quence of this, children, several of them during my recollection. As 
they grew up they took the places of their mothers, or went away to 
work for others. One was given to my wife on the occasion of bring- 
ing her first child home to my mother. This one grew up with us 
and married the colored man of Governor Vroom, a smart hussy, but as 
mischievous as possible. 

"After my sisters had married and left home, the superintend- 
ence and work lin such a family taxed the energies of my mother to 
the utmost, perhaps more than they ought to have been taxed. For 
the last twenty years of her life she was too fleshy to be comfortable, 
and she often complained of a difficulty in breathing which impeded 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 35 

deaths, nor whom they married, except in the latter case in one 
instance. 

These children were : 

129. Jacob. 

130. FULKERT. 

131. Weyntie. 

132. Mary. This daughter married John Hans. 

133. Elizabeth. 

her activity. In the end lit developed itself as a disease of the heart, 
and ended in a general dropsy. But she kept her house in order and 
her maidens in subjection, and the business of the house was never 
interfered with through any want of energy on her part. 

"Our colored man, Tom, was a character in his way. On Sundays 
he was arrayed in a blue broadcloth coat with large, bright gilt 
buttons, a yellow vest, and white top-boots. He had a fine beaver hat, 
better than the one his master wore, and a blackthorn stick in his hand, 
with his hair black-balled, as well as his boots, after it began to turn 
gray. When he marched away he was somebody. His step and bear- 
ing showed that he thought so himself. He averred that 'Cuff' Bar- 
net and himself were the only colored 'gemmen' who attended the 
church at Lamington. He had been married at one time to a colored 
woman in General Ludlow's family at Longhill, but he left her after 
she had brought him a daughter, while he was in a fit of jealousy, and 
he never went back to her again. About once in a week, or sometimes 
longer, when the family were at breakfast, he would open the door 
and looking in would say, 'Well, Boss, what is the work you want me 
to do to-day?' and receiving his answer he closed the door, and that 
was about all the ordering he had, or the deference he showed to 
authority. He left when he was old, in a fit of anger, but he sorely 
repented it. The last day he lived he spent in my kitchen in Somer- 
ville. I confess it was some satisfaction to think of this afterwards, 
and to know that for that day, at least, he was happy, and that he had 
had his fill of hot doughnuts. He made a profession of religion, and 
many a Sabbath evening have I sat on his knee, before a blazing kitchen 
fire, reading the New Testament to him. Generally he preferred the 
Book of Revelations to any other part of the Bible. It seemed a 
kind providence that he had been brought from heathen Africa to 
Christian America. 

"I hope he is in heaven, and I know that in a physical sense merely 
he suffered less and enjoyed more comfort in our family than he 
could have done in his native land. He had holes in his ears for rings 
from a child, and he founded on this fact a theory that he was the 
son of some great rich man, or chief, and one of his vanities was the 
wearing of a pair of large pinchbeck earrings, with pendant lunettes, 
shaking and flashing as he walked. But this was a part of his Sunday 
dress- — and not always then, but rather put on on gala days than on 
ordinary occasions. 

"As my brothers married, they were fitted with horses, wagon, 
and farming utensils in general, and began life in the small house on 
the west side of the farm — Cornelius, John, and Peter occupying it 
in succession. Dennis and Luke had small farms provided for them in 
other places. To the daughters in the same way an 'outset' was 



36 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



JOHANNES POWELSON and HAMPJE MET- 
SELAER (95), his wife, it is known, had children, but their 
number, names, and whom the}' married are not now known, 
so far as the editor has been able to discover. 

SARAH METSELAER (96) married JACOBUS 
STRYKER. He was born probably in 1726 and died at 
Belleville, New Jersey, January 5, 1820. She died, it is be- 

given. In this way quite a large amount was expended, which 
diminished in a material degree the estate as it was finally left, but 
they had the benefit of it when, perhaps, they needed it most. The 
expense of my education at the academy, college and seminary was 
paid for as incurred, promptly, every dollar of it. 

"During the War of the Revolution my father was frequently called 
to serve his term in the camp. When independence was declared and 
the event celebrated in the army, he was at Sandy Hook. Two 
or three British ships of war were lying off the shore. The move- 
ment in the camp, the music and the firing of cannon attracted their 
attention, and they lifted their anchors and stood in towards the shore, 
and fired several broadsides at the camp, the balls striking in the sand, 
sometimes quite near where the soldiers stood. 

"He participated to some extent in the fight at Springfield and 
Connecticut Farms, and he also formed one of the party which attacked 
the forage wagons at Weston, in Somerset County. He often expressed 
the opinion that if Major Baird had had the command instead of 
Colonel Quick, they would have taken the whole party and secured a 
valuable prize. 

"He always represented Quick as having acted the part of a coward 
on that occasion, and by delay prevented his men from rushing at once 
upon the convoy of wagons and capturing them, as they could easily 
have done. I remember often hearing him relate an account of an 
expedition which he accompanied from White House under Col. 
Frederick Frelinghuysen to Lebanon, where they captured a Tory 
by the name of Stoffel. They started about sundown on an autumn 
evening from White House, and marched quietly and noiselessly to 
Lebanon, arriving there about midnight. Having surrounded the house 
with his men, Frelinghuysen went to the door and rapped with the 
hilt of his sword. In a moment a back window was thrown open and 
the man they sought jumped out in his shirt, but ran into the arms 
of one of the men, who at once threw him down and had him bound. 
They then went to the house in search of something to eat. In the cellar 
they found a boiled ham and some bread and butter, with a barrel of 
metheglin, which was soon tapped, and some of the men had the 
bees buzzing in their heads all the next day and even at nightfall. 

"My father went with the party that accompanied the Tory to 
Trenton, where they lodged him in jail for safekeeping. 

"He also told us how his father, one day when the country was 
alarmed at the raids which the British soldiers made from New Bruns- 
wick, summoned him very mysteriously to accompany him to the woods, 
telling him to provide himself with a spade. They went alone up to 
the woods southwest of the house, and there carefully and secretly 
buried a quantity of silver money, but the next morning when the 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



lieved, in May, 1799. Both were connected with the Re- 
formed Dutch Church at New Brunswick, October 23, 1789. 
Their children were four in number. 

134. Ann, born May 4, 1745. She married WilHam Van 
Dusen, March 28, 1766. He was born in April, 1736, and died 
October 17, 1816. She united with the Reformed Dutch 
Church at New Brunswick, N. J., June 28, 1770, and both 
were connected with the church in 1794. 

alarm had subsided, he was sent early to unbury it, not liking to entrust 
it longer in such a place, and it was all found safe. 

"When the battle of Princeton was fought, the firing even of the 
small arms was distinctly heard in the barn by the boys who were 
threshing, and in the evening of the next day the fires of the camp 
at Pluckemin were distinctly seen from the house. Early the next 
morning, Tom, the colored man, was sent on horseback to reconnoitre 
and bring back word what was the meaning of the phenomenon. By 
eleven o'clock he was back at the house and reported that Washington 
and his army were encamped there and no further molestation need be 
feared, and all apprehension of danger was dismissed at once. 

"During the time that Dr. John Schureman was the pastor of 
Bedminster Church, my father's house was one of the places where he 
held a catechetical exercise for the instruction of the children. I 
retain a vivid recollection of one of these occasions — just where he 
stood and prayed, and how I wondered at what Dr. Schureman said 
in consequence of misunderstanding a single word; and also of open- 
ing the gate for him as he drove off in his gig with his wife. We boys 
had been particularly enjoined to have a basket of cherries ready to 
offer to Mrs. Schureman when they left, and she remembered it, too, 
for when I came to New Brunswick as a student of theology she sent 
for me to come to her house, and reminded me of the incident, wish- 
ing to know if I was the boy who had offered the basket of cherries, 
laughing heartily at the idea that we should meet again when the 
circumstances were so changed. And all through my course in the 
seminary her house was always open to me, and I met no more kind 
friends than she and her daughters proved themselves to be. 

"I may as well say here that when I lived at home we had so 
much fruit on the old homestead that people came from miles distant 
to gather cherries from a row of trees upon the hill in front of the 
house, and the evil became so great that it was decided to cut them 
down. We had also almost a forest of the morello cherry near the 
house, and other varieties in other localities. Peaches were so abundant 
that the swine were let in among the trees to eat up those which fell 
upon the ground. Apples were taken to the distillery, or ground up for 
cider, or stored away for winter use in abounding profusion. The gath- 
ering of them was a labor of weeks and a main business in the 
autumn. Cider was so plentiful that no limit was imposed to its use 
except decency. 

"Indeed, that old home as I remember it, was a pleasant home. 
It had an abundance of all good things, and they were generously 
dispensed. It was a plain home and the habits prevailing in it were 
simple, but it had comfort and it had plenty. We never knew want, 
because we were taught economy and temperance. We never expected 



3S MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



135. Johannes, baptized November 15, 1758, in New 
York. He married in that city, but died soon after in 1783. 

136. Jane,, born about 1760. She married Francis Coven- 
hoven. They liyed at New Brunswick, N, J. 

137. Peter, born December 23, 1763, in New Brunswick. 
Married Sarah, eldest daughter of Harmanus Barkalow of 
Yellow Hook, near Fort Hamilton, N. Y., June 11, 1787. He 
died at New Brunswick, March 6, 1847, ^nd was interred in 

to see want, because the means to avert it were assiduously applied by 
constant industry. Without any serious sickness and without any . 
deaths for many years in our family, we seemed to be guarded from the 
common ills of life, and at the same time abundantly favored with its 
common blessings. It changed in one respect. The older children mar- 
ried and went out into the world, and the younger grew up — and at 
last the time for the great change came. The mother died. It was to 
me, at least, never the old home after that day. I continued to visit it, 
but always sorrowfully. And then the father departed. We sold ] 
the old place, and I never went into the house after the business con- 
sequent on the sale was completed. Then the old mansion was burned i 
up and not a trace of it left. And while I have not seen the old place ' 
since, I have long felt that it would be too mournful to be pleasant, 
and I have avoided it. j 

"I have written down these reminiscences of my parents and of 
our old home just as they occurred to my mind, without method or 
premeditation. It was proper to do so, for I desired them to be an 
unbiased and unsophisticated expression of my recollections and feel- 
ings, after years have passed and all motives to exaggerate ought to ! 
have ceased. Besides, I intend them only for those whose interest in the '• 
relation will be the interest they will feel in me and those from whom 
they are descended, combined with a natural desire to know what kind 
of people their ancestors were. My pride is in being able to say that 
they were honest men — 'the noblest work of God,' good men, which is 
something even better, and Christian men, which, in my estimation, is 
the highest type to which our humanity is destined, in this lower sphere, ,1 
to arrive at and attain. It is more honorable than a noble parentage 
might have been. 

"Among my father's papers I found an impression of my great- 
grandfather's seal in wax, which I copied and had a wood cut made 
of it, annexing a slight ornament as a memorial of the past, not as a 
coat of arms, for I have never been vain enough to believe that my 
ancestors claimed, in any of the past generations, any connection with 
knighthood. I examined the Records of the Heralds' Office at The 
Hague, but not in the hope of finding any evidence there of any affinity 
even with the nobles of Holland, for I knew that this was improbable, | 
if not absolutely impossible. What became of the seal with which the 
impression was made I know not. If it was ever in the possession 
of my grandfather, there is no evidence of its use in anything now in 
existence, and yet I should regard it as a precious and honorable 
memento to be carefully preserved. 

"After the death of my mother on the 25th day of October, 1832, 
my father continued in the old home with my youngest brother, Isaac. 
At first they had only the old colored woman, Nancy, who had nursed 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 39 



the cemetery of the Dutch Church in that city. His wife was 
born March 10. 1766. and died July 12, 1837. He was a 
student in Columbia College in 1783, entered the ministry of 
the Reformed Dutch Church, being licensed May 8, 1788/and 
soon after he took charge of the church on Staten Island. On 
September 5, 1794, he was called to the Dutch Church at Belle- 
ville, New Jersey. 

After remaining with that people until September, 1809, he 

my mother in her last ilhiess, as housekeeper, but in the course of a 
year Isaac took to himself a wife and brought her home. Thus the 
household was reconstructed and the time passed away until the 
death of my father on the 28th day of November, 1843. This produced 
a final disruption. He left directions in his will to have the home- 
stead sold and the estate equally divided among his children. I was 
made an executor with John and Isaac, and after renting the home 
to a tenant for one year, the directions were carried out and the estate 
settled in perfect amity and friendship among all the children. 

"To these reminiscences I am disposed to add one record oi an 
incident in Revolutionary times in which my father acted a part. 
There was a Tory in Somerset County named Hans Smith, who made 
himself active in favor of the enemy, the English, and, of course, 
obnoxious to his neighbors. After Colonel Simcoe's raid, when the 
church on the Raritan was burned and general consternation was 
created, the feeling against him rose to fever heat. He was suspected 
of being concerned in the burning. In this state of the public mind 
a number of young men determined to take him and give him a coat 
of tar and feathers. They, of course, chose the night to do it in. 
Having succeeded in effecting the capture, they took him to a school- 
house on the Pluckemin road north of Somerville, and there pro- 
ceeded to strip him and apply the 'raiment' provided for him. When 
it was done they led him off and ordered him home. Upon looking on 
himself he exclaimed in Dutch, 'Man sale here neet mere can spreke,' 
that is, 'A man will not be allowed to speak here any more.' Some 
one added that if he had anything more to 'speak' they would give 
him another coat of the same kind. On hearing this he took to his 
heels, and clearing the fence ran like a deer across the fields in a 
straight line for his home. And the young men scattered, thinking 
that they had done iTiischief enough for one night. Father related 
the anecdote, always with such a twinkle in his eye, as if to show 
that he still enjoyed the idea of the mischief he had been concerned 
in, and thought they had served the Tory right. And why not? 

"While living on the farm northwest of Somerville, my father 
and mother had a girl named Polly Stewart, a smart young woman. 
Polly had managed to attract a beau, who visited her on Sunday even- 
ings, but report said he had a wife somewhere, and father thought it 
right to inform her father of what was going on. When the next 
Sunday evening came, Polly's father introduced himself quietly into 
the house about nine o'clock, and in a whisper asked if the beau was 
there. Nothing was said, but father pointed to the kitchen. He went 
in and closed the door behind him, and in a moment the sound of the 
thrashing which he was administering to Polly's suitor saluted their 
ears. Then the door flew open and retreating footsteps were heard. 



40 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

was called to the Presbyterian Church at Amboy, but in De- 
cember, 1810, he was recalled to his old charge at Belleville, 
and served there acceptably until April, 1812, when he was 
compelled to resign on account of ill health. He was a courtly 
gentleman of the old school and one of the strong men of the 
church, 

Polly rushed up stairs to bed, and the scene was ended. The next 
morning a large portion of the cue the beau wore was found sticking 
fast in a split-slat of one of the chaiirs. He was glad, no doubt, to 
have saved his head, even though he had lost so much of his luxuriant 
hair. 

"My father often told me how he managed a boy whose hat fell 
in the well. His name was Slack. One day in drawing water, he acci- 
dentally lost his hat down the well. How to get it was the question. 
Father took a cart-rope and fastening it to the windlass let himself 
dovvn and brought up the hat. Soon after it was down in the well 
again, and the same process was repeated and the hat brought up, the 
boy watching each time and evidently thinking the joke a good one. 
On another day it was down the well again. 

"Father went to the barn and brought the rope to fasten it, Slack 
standing by and looking on as usual, but in a moment he was seized, 
the rope passed around his body, and he found himself going down 
the well, roaring at the highest pitch of his voice. When he came to 
the water he was let into it up to his armpits, and then commanded 
to get the hat. Being drawn up, hat in hand, he was released and not 
a word was said to him. But the hat did not get in the well again. 
Slack evidently did not like to go after it himself as well as to see 
another do it. 

"I will here add to these memorials that mother often mentioned, 
as a family tradition, that her ancestors fled from France in the middle 
of the night to escape massacre, and that they made their way to 
Holland ; that they left everything in the house, excepting the silver 
which they took with them— the candles burning and the bread kneaded 
in the bread-tray ready to be baked in the morning; that they were 
people of substance, and that they left property behind them, but 
never returned to look after it, although in fact it was confiscated and 
could not have been obtained if they had gone back. 

"This indicates that they were Huguenots, and the time of their 
flight to have been St. Bartholomew's Eve. She did not recollect to 
have ever heard the name of the place from which they fled — whether 
it was city, town, or country, nor what was their calling or business. 
They had money and plate enough to carry them to Holland. One 
of the preachers during the Reformation in Holland was Herman 
Strycker. He is sometimes called in history the Monk of Poperinghe, 
or the 'Befrocked Monk.' Poperinghe is on the borders of France, in 
West Flanders, _ some fifteen miles from the shores of the English 
Channel, and it is probable that the family residence was in this vicinity. 
Strycker is not a French name, and here just on the borders where 
the Belgian and Frank populations were mixed, it is likely they resided. 
Herman Strycker, became Protestant after the Reformation. He set- 
tled in Arnsterdam and was popular. He had a stormy kind of elo- 
quence which fitted him to be a leader in any great movement; but he 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 41 



PIETER METSELAER (97) and ARIANTJE, his wife, 
had four children: 

138. Johannes, baptized at New Brunswick, N. J., May 

21, 1753- 

139. Antje_, born as above February 16, 1755. 

140. Simon, baptized as above October 3, 1756. 

141. Petrus, baptized as above May 4, 1760. 

seems also to have been rash. In the Leicester troubles he was an 
ardent supporter of the English party and involved himself so deeply 
that he found it convenient to leave the country. He was for some 
time in England. Whether he ever returned, or where and when he 
died, I have not ascertained. 

"My mother's mother was Lena Hoagland, who was the daughter 
of Christopher Hoagland of Griggstown, New Jersey. The farm 
where she lived is now in the possession of Henry Hoagland, one of 
the descendants. 

"The Hoaglands came at an early day to New Netherlands, and two 
of them were merchants and ship-owners, trading to the West Indies. 
On one occasion they both embarked in the same vessel. Many months 
passed, but no tidings of the ship ever came and it. no doubt, foundered 
at sea. The business and property in New York had been left in the 
hands of one Schenck, an ancestor of the Schencks of Matteawan, 
from whom no account or settlement was ever obtained by the legal 
heirs. 

"Trade was irregular, and no insurance was taken on vessels as 
a proof of what they contained. The heirs at best were somewhat 
remote and perhaps ignorant of the method of proceeding. Law was 
uncertain, and from all these causes the matter was left until such a 
time had elapsed as to make any process difficult. The property in 
dispute remained in the state in which it was left until the time of my 
earliest memory. I remember well walking by it in company with 
my uncle, Dennis Stryker of New York, and his pointing it out as a 
large estate, which he affirmed belonged to him in part, though he had 
not been able to reclaim it. He had full faith in his own right and that 
of the family, and died fully believing that a great wrong had been 
done to those who ought to have come into its possession. And the 
same thing is true of all the branches of the family. Even yet it is 
spoken of among them, and some even hope that the day will come 
when the deception will be exposed and the unlawful possessors made 
to disgorge their wrongfully acquired wealth. 

"Of this, however, there is now no hope. There is, in fact, no 
evidence upon which to rest any claim, but family tradition. The real 
estate included a plot of ground fronting on Broadway, between Maiden 
Lane and John Street, and extending down towards the East River to 
the Quaker Church. 

"Aaron Burr was at one time employed in bringing a suit against 
the Schencks, but the heirs affirmed that he not only betrayed their 
interests, but refused to deliver the papers put in his hands, in the 
interest of the unlawful holders. 

"Mother often spoke of this claim, and never could patiently hear 
a Schenck spoken of, especially in commendation. 

"How much there was in it I have never ascertained. At one 
time Dennis Stryker of New York had possession of one of the houses 



42 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

JACOBUS METSELAER (98) and JENNETJE, his 
wife, had nine children : 

142. Annatha (Annetje), baptized at New Brunswick, 
Julv 21, 175 1, and is supposed to have died in infancy. 

143. ABiiAHAM, baptized as above June 11, 1753, and is 
also supposed to have died in infancy. 

144. Abraham, a second son, baptized June 17, 1754. He 
married Deborah Stevens. 

on the land, but he was induced or forced to relinquish it. Since that 
time no measures have been taken by any one to ascertain the founda- 
tion on which the claim rested. 

"Evidently the account given did not embrace the whole case. 
It was either more or less — probably less. The romance in it, no 
doubt, had something to do (in perpetuating it; but all the family had 
firm faith in the truth and reality of their being the legal and just 
heirs of a very large estate in the city of New York. 

"I find the name of Dircks John Hoogland among those who 
took the Oath of Allegiance lin Kings County in 1687, as haying been 
thirty years in the country. This would make the year of immigra- 
tion 1657. In the same list and immediately below it is John Dircks 
Hoogland, a native, that is, his son. He was a man of family, having 
a son of mature years in 1687. In a census list of the inhabitants of 
New York in 1703, I find the name of Christopher Hogland, a house- 
holder with a family — one male, one female, two male children — liv- 
ing in the 'South Ward.' These were the ancestors of the family in 
New Jersey, no doubt, but the succession is not so easily ascertained. 
I think it was Christopher Hooglandt who was the merchant in New 
York, and from whose death at sea the claim spoken of above origina- 
ted, but my memory is not exact in reference to this. Teunis G. 
Bergen says, 'William and Christoffel Hoogland of the Raritan in 1717 
were probably sons of Dirck Janse Hoogland, who emigrated in 1657 
and settled in Flatbush, where he took the Oath of Allegiance in 1687.' 
Jacob Janeway married Sarah Hoogland, June 26, 1730, in New York. 
George Hoogland married Mary Schenck, October 22, 1722. Abraham 
Schenck married Catherine Hoogland, December 18, 1764, in New 
York. These marriages show that there was a connection between the 
Hooglands and Schencks, which may explain how the property in 
New York came to go into the Schencks' hands, instead of going, 
as it is claimed it ought to have gone, into the Hooglands' hands in 
New Jersey. The Schencks must have had at least an apparent right 
to hold it as they did. 

"Our old house contained a part of the residence of Rev. 
James McCrea, minister once of the Presbyterian Church at Lam- 
ington, and the father of Jane McCrea, who was murdered by the 
Indians near Sandy Hill, New York, during the Revolutionary War. 
The kitchen part was said by my father to have been Dr. McCrea's 
study, and that it had been moved from a place nearer the river for 
an addition to the main dwelling, and the other part of it formed the 
family room and a bedroom behind it, the mode in which the two had 
been joined together being clearly seen in the garret. The kitchen 
stood about ten feet from the main house, and the intervening space 
was built in and used as a summer dining-room and common entrance 
to house and kitchen." 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 43 

145. Angenetje, baptized as above November 28, 1757. 
140. Brecon (Bergen), baptized as above March 11, 1759. 

147. Marya, baptized at Six Mile Run, N. J., March i, 
1761. 

148. Jannetje^ baptized at New Brunswick, July 3, 1763. 

149. Jacob, baptized at Six Mile Run, September 8, 1765. 

150. Geertje (Charity), baptized at Raritan, N. J., July 
17, 1767. She married John Wortman, born August 20, 1785, 
and who died May 13, 1831. She died March 13, 1840. 

ABRAHAM METSELAER (99) and MARIA COLE, 
his wife, had one child : 

151. Jacob, born October 9, 1765, and married Frances 
Rowe, December 7, 1790, who was born March 8, 1764, and 
died March 22, 1843. He died June 6, 1842. 



SIXTH GENERATION. 

CORNELIUS METSELAER (121), or MESSLER, as 
the name was now spelled, and MARIA STRYKER, his wife, 
had eleven children : 

152. Cornelius, born October 3, 1782, and married Jemi- 
mah Ten Eyck, November 27, 1804, who was born April i, 
1784. He married his second wife, Anne Wyckoff, April 12, 
1842. He died June 20, 1857. 

153. Magdalena, born September 3, 1784, and baptized 
October 31, 1784. She married Edmund Arrowsmith, and 
died June 4, 1865, and was buried at Somerville, N. J. 

154. Lam ACHE, born April 26, 1786, and married Gilbert 
Gulick, April 26, 1807, and died at Romulus, N. Y., June 5, 
1854. Tier husband died January 28, 1865. 

155. Dennis, bom November 4, 1787, and married Mar- 
garet Quick, November 28, 1811, who was born July 28, 1794, 
and died January 29, 1866. Fie was a farmer and died Febru- 
ary 14, 1871. 

156. Lucus, born March 30, 1790, and died October 14, 
1791. 

157. Anna, born September 6, 1791, and married Garret 
Couenhoven in 1812, who was born June 5, 1792, and died 
]March 29, 1828. On June 9, 1831, she married as her second 
husband Bergen Davis, who was born December 19, 1784, 



44 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

and Avho died August 22, 1856. She died at White House, 
X. J., February 3, 1862. 

158. Lucus, born June 27, 1793, and died October 13, 
1864, at Richmond, Virginia. He married Eleanor Vander- 
bilt. 

159. John, born December 12, 1794, and died March 16, 
1882. He married Anne Bergen, who was born September 16, 
1797, and died March 9, 1882. 

160. Peter, born November 17, 1796, and died February 
2, 1873, at Steriing, Morris County, N. J. On December 9, 
1822, he married Esther Smith, who was born June 15, 1799, 
and died January 18, 1857. 

161. Abraham,* boni November 15, 1800, and died at 

*The editor here introduces a biographical sketch of his grandfather, 
the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Messier of Somerville, N. J., and also certain 
data, chronologically stated, concerning the church over which Dr. 
Messier presided for so many years. 

Abraham Messier was the loth child and seventh son of Cornelius 
Messier and Mary Stryker. He was born at the old homestead on the 
banks of the Lamington River, near the village of White House, in 
Hunterdon County, New Jersey, November 15, 1800. Having been 
instructed in the customary elements of an English education he was 
sent to the Presbyterian Parsonage, not far from his father's house, 
to continue his studies, preparatory to entering college. He was 
admitted to the Junior Class of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 
the autumn of 1819, and from this institution he was graduated 
with honor in 1821. It was during his student days in college that 
he decided to enter the Christian ministry. 

Accordingly we find that within a few months succeeding his 
graduation he became enrolled at the Theological Seminary of the 
Reformed Dutch Church in New Brunswick, N. J. Here he pursued 
the full course of three years, and soon afterwards he was licensed 
to preach by the Classis of the church. 

His early efforts in the ministry were in the missionary service 
in Morris County, N. J., and at Ovid, Seneca County, N. Y. 

At the latter place he became the church pastor, and here he 
remained in oflfice for three years until 1828. During this interval 
he was united in marriage with Miss Elma Doremus, the ceremony 
being performed at her home in New York City on September 11, 
1826, by the Rev. James M. Matthews, afterwards Chancellor of the 
University in New York. 

His pastorate at Ovid was attended with much personal labor, 
as the congregation extended over a rjade and sparsely settled country, 
and he was frequently called upon to travel considerable distances 
at night, but his exertions, always performed faithfully and zealously, 
were rewarded with a fair measure of success, considering the unset- 
tled state of society in that region. In the followiing year, 1829, he 
was called to preside over the two united congregations of Mont- 
ville and Pompton Plains in New Jersey. Here he encountered 
the adverse influences of ecclesiastical secession, as well as the indif- 
ferent moral tone of the population. In this charge he remained 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 45 

Somerville, N. J., June 12, 1882. On September 11, 1826, he 
married Elma Doremus, who was born at Montville. N. J., 
June 21, 1806, and who died March 4, 1895. 

162. Isaac, born December 9, 1806, and died at White 
House, N. J., March 19, 1887. On November 7, 1833, he mar- 
ried Henrietta Reger, who was bom June 24, 181 1, and who 
died June 8, 1889. 

ABRAHAM POWELSON and LAMETJE METSE- 
LAER (122), his wife, had eight children: 

until 1832, when he was invited to become the pastor of the old 
First Reformed Dutch Church of Raritan at Somerville, lin Somerset 
County. The congregation of this church had represented the in- 
tellectual and moral forces of the community for more than a cen- 
tury and a quarter, the church having been founded early in the year 
1699. 

To accept this call to minister to an influential and lintelligent body 
of people might well cause a young man, as Dr. Messier then was, 
to pause and examine himself. It required strength of character, 
self-reliance, scholarship and high purpose to become the co-worker 
with the prominent diivines, with whom he would be associated. 
Dr. Messier appreciated the situation, weighed well the responsibilities 
and finally accepted. He was soon after invested in office, and as 
pastor of this church he ascended the pulpit and preached his first 
sermon to his new congregation from I. Corinthians, 11:2, on the 29th 
day of October, 1832. Wlith this church his name was to be inter- 
linked for an unbroken period of nearly fifty years of earnest, honor- 
able and eminently successful work in the ministerial relation. In this 
field he reaped and garnered until the year 1879, when, by reason of 
advancing age and bodily infirmities, he resigned his charge in the 
fullness of grace under divine blessing, and withdrew into the peace 
and retirement of his own home. 

During his long service at Somerville, he early developed into 
an able and eloquent preacher, of sound evangelical judgment and 
ripe scholarship. From his college days he had shown himself to 
be a man of research, studious in many of the branches of human 
knowledge aside from ecclesiastical investigation, keen and discrim- 
inating, and ever seeking, through high resolve and exacting indus- 
try, to rise to the higher intellectual plane. He comprehended thor- 
oughly and elucidated in his theological discussions the simple word 
of God, according to the Dutch Canons, the Belgic Confession and 
the Heidelberg Catechism. These doctrines he not only expounded from 
the pulpit, but he carried them into his own nature by precept and 
example throughout all his long life. 

His sermons were rarely delivered extemporaneously, but from 
manuscript. Into these sermons, constructed logically and with the 
elegance of the best English, he poured the stores of his rich mind. 
In their finished state and ready for delivery from the pulpit they were 
often beautiful and eloquent essays, always analytical, but simple and 
full of the truth. 

His duties as a minister of the gospel necessarily brought him 
into close relations with the judicial bodies of the different churches 



46 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

163. Abraham, the dates of birth and death being un- 
known. 

164. Maria, the dates of whose birth and death being- like- 
wise unknown. She was the second wife of Martin Beeckman, 
who was a farmer. They resided south of the Raritan River 
in New Jersey, at what is now called Layback. 

165. John, bom July 27, 1780, and died March 27, 1854. 
He married Alechta Van Doren, who was born January 28, 
1786, and who died March 3, 1868. They were both interred 
at Bedminster, N. J. 

of which, largely by reason of his thorough knowledge of church polity 
and the constitution, he was an efficient and leading member. In 1847 
he was President of the General Synod of Delegates which met that 
year in New York. 

Throughout the whole period of Dr. Messler's pastorate it was his 
custom to deliver once every five years a memorial sermon, retro- 
spective in character — a record or review of the church work of the 
interval. These sermons were published in 1872, with the exception 
of the last, which he preached in the church on November 4, 1877. 

Dr. Messier was a voluminous writer on topics pertaining to his 
calling; but his activity did not end with the performance of the duties 
of a church pastor. The studious and investigating character of his 
mind led him into other paths of useful knowledge. Broad and public 
spirited as he was, he took great interest in all movements and 
causes tending to the elevation, progress and moral advancement 
of man. In addition to his wide range of reading, he supplemented it 
by personal writings of a miscellaneous nature, some concerning State 
and County history, while others were observations on foreign travel, 
and religious subjects. 

Dr. Messier not only wrote much, but he published much of what 
he wrote. He commenced to publish early in his professional career, 
the first instance, as far as is now known, being his sermon when the 
Reformed Dutch Church in Seneca County, N. Y., was dedicated in 
1827. It would be impossible to here enumerate all the memorials 
of his literary productions. Suffice it to say that, aside from the 
very many sermons which have been preserved, covering the whole 
of his ministerial life, he wrote and published a history of the 
Church of Raritan from lits foundation in 1699 to 1834, and delivered 
b)' him at the laying of the corner-stone of the new house of worship 
at Somerville, July 21, 1834; an historical paper on the settlement of 
New Jersey by the Dutch colonists, read before the New Jersey His- 
torical Society in 1850; the Somerset County Centennlial History, a 
volume of about two hundrel pages ; also, a series of a dozen articles 
on the Confession of Faith. These last articles were published in the 
Christian Intelligencer in 1864. A contemporary has referred to them 
as "probably the most elaborate history of the Confession to be found 
in the English language." 

Dr. Messier had long cherished the hope of enjoying, at some 
time, the intellectual benefits of foreign travel. 

In 1854 this hope was realized by an European tour of five months' 
duration. In company with a companion, he sailed from New York 
for Liverpool, April 29, 1854, on the steamship ''Arctic" of the old 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 47 



166. Sarah, the date of whose birth being unknown. She 
married Philip Clarkson. They resided at Ovid, Seneca 
County, N. Y., where she died without issue in 1824. 

167. Cornelius, born July 24, 1789, and died April 6. 1863. 
He married Eleanor Layton, who was born June 26, 1786, and 
died April 5, 1879. They lived at Bedminster, N. J., and both 
were buried there. 

168. Lena, born April 3, 1794. She became the third 
wife of Jacob Van Doren and died shortly after her marriage, 
without issue, July 7, 1836, and was interred at Bedminster. 

Collins Line, one of the famous steamships of that day, marking as it 
did, with the sister ships, a decided advance in ocean navigation, as 
regards comfort, safety and speed. Upon arriving in England he 
proceeded, after a short stay in London, directly to Italy. Through 
this country, bountiful in the stores of ancient and medieval art and 
architecture, he traveled for a month. Thence he passed across 
Switzerland and through Germany to the north to Berlin. In this city 
he was entertained for some weeks by his life-long friend, the Hon. 
Peter D. Vroom, ex-Governor of New Jersey, who was then 
United States Minister to Germany. Through the Minister's official 
position, Dr. Messler's opportunities for becoming better acquainted 
with the state of European politics were particularly favored. 

From Berlin followed a trip through Holland, the parent land 
of his ancestors. From thence he went to Paris, to Scotland and Eng- 
land, and through the English Lake region and to the cathedral cities, 
the tour abroad being finally concluded at Liverpool, from which 
port he sailed for America in the steamship "Atlantic" of the Collins 
Line, on September 6th. 

On September 19th, after a tempestuous voyage across the ocean, 
he landed in New York, and by evening of the same day he was once 
more at Somerville in the old home, benefited in health and strength- 
ened in mind after his visit in foreign lands. 

In this connection it may be well to record that Dr. Messler's 
life was probably saved for many years of further usefulness through 
an accidental circumstance. Dr. Messier had engaged his homeward 
passage on the "Arctic," the same vessel on which he had crossed to 
Europe, the steamer being scheduled to sail a week later than the 
"Atlantic," but meeting unexpectedly an old acquaintance in London 
he was induced to return by the earlier steamer. The "Arctic" sailed 
from Liverpool, but never reached New York. In a dense fog she 
was sunk off Cape Race in collision with the French steamer "Vesta," 
and out of her living freight of two hundred and sixty-eiight persons, 
officers, crew, and passengers, but forty-six were saved. This disaster 
occurred on the night of September 21, 1854, not many hours after 
Dr. Messier had safely arrived at his home. Surely a divine inter- 
position often rules the destinies of man. 

While Dr. Messier was active and diligent in his sight -seeing when 
abroad, he nevertheless found time to keep a journal of each day's 
doings, of what he saw and of his impressions thereon — a sort of 
compendium of his experiences and observations. This journal was 
faithfully kept, and in its completed state it fills five hundred and 



48 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



169. Anne, the dates of whose birth and death being un- 
known. She married Francis Hastings and removed with him 
to Illinois, where she died. Her husband claimed to be an heir 
to the estate of the Earl of Huntingdon, and he went to Eng- 
land on at least one occasion to prosecute his claim. 

170. Peter, the dates of whose birth and death being 
unknown. 

LUCUS METSELAER(i25)and MARGARET VLIET, 
his wife, had three children : 

twenty-two pages of closely written matter in two ordinary blank 
books. 

It was composed lin choice and well-considered language, and bears 
the mark of fine descriptive ability, but tempered with an intuitive dis- 
crimination. 

Supplementary to his journal, Dr. Messier wrote and published, 
generally in the Christian Intelligencer, a series of transatlantic 
sketches. As far as may now be ascertained at this late date there were 
twenty articles entitled ''Reminiscences of Holland and Belgtium," 
twentv-four on the ''Rhine and Rhineland," and twelve on "The Isle 
of Wight." 

Upon Dr. Messler's return from Europe, he immediately resumed 
his pastoral work with renewed vigor and earnestness. 

So he continued on in the labor for the cause of Christianity, 
preaching, as the pastor of his church, the gospel of truth, ministering 
to his people in seasons of gladness as the representative of the church 
at marriage festivals, and in seasons of sorrow and bereavement at 
the open grave, always the wise counsellor, the kind friend and com- 
forter, the steadfast man. 

After the conclusion of the foreign tour, the official relation of 
pastor and people remained unbroken for a quarter of a century. 
But the long and earnest life was now drawing to a close. In 1879, 
when he stepped down from the pulpit for the last time and had laid 
aside the robe, he had reached in age nearly four score years. Forty- 
seven years had he tended the flock. His course had nearly run and 
the interval passed quickly by. Infirmity and weakness of the heart 
became apparent, and finally on June 10. 1882, he was stricken with a 
fatal attack. Towards the last his wife asked, "You are not going 
to leave us?" He answered, "Not yet, I think. Not yet." But the 
beckoning angel was at hand, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, his soul was translated from the mansions of earth and had 
ascended to an eternal rest. 

He died ,in the house which had been his home for half a century, 
at half past one on the afternoon of June 12, 1882. 

The genial light of a beautiful and a noble life had gone out. 
A celestial crown had been laid up. 

********** 

Chronological Note concerning the First Reformed Dutch Church 
of Raritan (Somerville). 

This church was founded March 9, 1699, but the precise place 
of worship is unknown. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 49 



171. Cornelius, born January 24, 1796, and died earlv. 

172. John Vliet, born July 30, 1798, and died March 19, 
1844. He married Ellen Smith, who died August 8, 1841. 
Both were interred in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian 
Church at Morristown, N. J. 

173. Gertrude, born October 18, 1800. and died January 
23, 1885. She married first, Benjamin Smith in 1818, and 
second, John McGowan in March, 1838, 

RICHARD DRAKE and SARAH METSELAER (126), 
his wife, had nine children : 

174. Elizabeth, born July 8, 1792, but it is not known 
when she died, although it is asserted that she died in Michi- 
gan. She married James Perrine, who was a farmer and they 

1709. The site was changed, but to what locality is unknown. 

1730. The church was situated on the north bank of the Raritan 
River, a little below the Finderne bridge. It was burned by a 
troop of British cavalry in the autumn of 1779. 

1 779- 1 788. The congregation worshipped in the Somerset County 
Court House, on Main Street, Somerville. 

1788. The first brick church, a small building forty feet by sixty feet, 
was erected on the site of the present one. 

1817. The church was enlarged. 

1834, July 21. The corner-stone of a second brick church was 
laid, and the house of worship built in part on the foundations 
of the first brick church. The sermon of dedication was 
preached bv Rev. Dr. Abraham Messier on February 25, 1835, 
from II. Chronicles, vi:i8, "Will God in every deed dwell 
with men on the earth?" 

1896, July 25. The corner-stone of the new stone church was laid 
by Rev. J. Preston Searle, late pastor of the church and 
Dr. Messler's immediate successor in office. The stone weighed 
seven hundred and fifty pounds, and the box placed within 
the stone contained a long list of articles, among which were 
the following: Copies of the New York newspapers, local 
papers and religious publications. Dedication sermon of 
February 25, 1835, by Rev. Dr. Messier. Memorial discourse 
on the life, character and services of Dr. Messier, preached on 
October 29, 1882, by Rev. Dr. John A. Todd. Volume of 
memorial sermons and historical notes by Rev. Dr. Messier, 
1832 to 1872. Memorial on Ex-Governor Peter D. Vroom 
by Dr. Messier, 1874. List of Elders and Deacons from March 
9, 1699, to the present day — six hundred and twenty-two in 
all. List of Mlinisters of the church. The Great Seal of the 
church. Constitution and By-Laws of The Holland Society 
of New York. Copy of the Bible. Pictures of the old 
church. Three photographic views taken from the steeple of 
the old church, together with a view of the interior of the old 
church at the time of holding the last service therein. 



50 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

lived at Friendship, Allegheny County, N. Y., where he died 
in 1853. 

175. Maria, born July 30, 1794, and died November 3, 
1857. On September 4, 1812, she married John R. Sebring, 
who was born November 19, 1773. He was a farmer and after 
his death on September 16, 1820, she married Philip Coleman, 
about 1822. The latter died near Rochester, N. Y., December 
II, 1841. 

176. Matilda, born January i, 1797, baptized July 2, 
1797, and died June 15, 1879. On May 4, 1814, she married 
Stephen Cole, who was born at Balston, Saratoga County, N. 
Y., Februarv 29, 1792. He died at Greece, Monroe Countv, 
N. Y., February 8, 1847. 

177. Catherine, born October 25, 1799, and died at Ovid, 
Seneca County, N. Y., February 15, 1821. She married Isaac 
Bodine, who was born May 13, 1792, and who died at Ovid, 
February 24, 1840. 

178. Cornelius, born August 20, 1802. He did not 
marry and died at Clarksville, N. Y., November 14, 1872, and 
was interred at Cuba, N. Y. 

179. Phoebe Van Nest, born September 8, 1804. baptized 
at Somerville, N. J., October 14, 1804, and died at Clarksville. 
N. Y., January 2^, 1886. In 1824 she married Samuel Comp- 
ton, a farmer, who also died at Clarksville, November 26, 
1883. They were both interred at Cuba, N. Y. 

180. Elisha, born December 21, 1806, and died May 6, 
i860. He married Rhoda Smalley, who died in 1852. He was 
a farmer. 

181. Sarah Ann, born July 15, 1809, baptized at Somer- 
ville, N. J., August 27, 1809, and died at Somerset, Niagara 
County, N. Y., August 29, 1889. On December 19, 1828, 
she married John Williams, a farmer, who was bom June i, 
1807, and who died November 12, 1880. They lived in Niagara 
County, N. Y. 

182. Abraham, born February 21, 1813, and died August 
20, 1 8 14. 

ABRAHAM METSELAER (144) and DEBORAH 
STEVENS, his wife, had eight children : 

183. Deborah, bom in 1777, and married Charles Apple- 
gate. 

184. Elizabeth, born in 1779, and married James Newton. 

185. Cornelia, born in 1782. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



1 86. William, born in 1786. 

187. Peter, born April 22, 1790, and married Elizabeth 
Morford in 1811, who was born April 9, 1795. They lived 
at Trenton, N. J., and emigrated to Ohio in 1834, where he 
died in 1861. She died in 1849. 

188. Maria, born in 1792, and married Solomon Wiley. 
Thev emigrated shortly after their marriage to Zanesville, 
Ohio. 

189. Elsa, born in 1794, and married Grover Applegate. 

190. Lydia, bom in 1796, married a man named Schenck, 
and emigrated shortly afterwards to Missouri. 

JOHN WORTMAN and GEERTJE METSELAER 
(150), his wife, had one child: 

191. Jane, born July 6, 1786, and died July 29, 1843. She 
married Mathias Barker, who was born January 13, 1783, 
and died January 15, 1844. 

JACOB METSELAER (151) and FRANCES ROWE, 
his wife, had three children : 

192. James J., born September 12, 1792, and died Febru- 
ary 7, 1869. He married Sarah Horton, October 22, 18 14, who 
was born April 26, 1795, and died September 16, 1840. 

193. Isaac C, bom December 7, 1795, and married Sarah 
Brady, March 4, 1816, who was born September 11, 1796, and 
died April 8, 1840. He died June 16, 1862. 

194. Maria, born May 6. 1797, and married Peter Wort- 
man, February 6, 1815, who was born January 15, 1793, and 
who died May ii, 1865. She died January i, 1884. They 
lived at Chester, N. J. 



SEVENTH GENERATION. 

CORNELIUS MESSLER (152) and JEMIMAH TEN 
EYCK, his wife, had nine children : 

195. Maria, born October 22, 1805. On October 28, 1826, 
she married Peter Blew, who was born at Raritan, N. J., and 
was a carpenter. He died there in 1832. As her second hus- 
band she married John A. Manley, August 7, 1834, who was 
also a carpenter, and they lived at New Brunswick, N. J., 



52 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

where he was born in 1806. They afterwards removed to 
Northport, Long Island, where she died February 12, 1888. 

196. Sarah, born September 12, 1807, and died unmar- 
ried, March 6, 1827. 

197. Cornelius, born April 26, 1810, and died March 19, 
1819. 

198. Anne, born May 16, 1812, and died at Washington 
Valley, N. J., November 16, 1882. On June 16, 1835, she mar- 
ried David Loree, who was born August 15, 1815. 

199. Isaac, born July 5, 1815. He did not marry. He 
lived at Bedminster, N. J. It is not known when he died. 

200. Andrew Ten Eyck, born November 25, 1817, and 
died in early childhood, April 12, 18 19. 

201. Phoebe Ten Eyck, born July 28, 1820. She mar- 
ried David Bird, September 26, 1846. They lived at Bedmin- 
ster, N. J. 

202. Dennis Van Liew, born May 5, 1823, and died Sep- 
tember 15, 1841. 

203. Harriet Mabon. born March 12, 1828. She married 
John M. S. Schenck, October 9, 1861. They lived at North 
Branch, N. J. 

By his second wife, Anne Wyckoff, whom Cornelius Mess- 
ier married on April 12, 1842, he had no children. 

EDMUND ARROWSMITH and MAGDALENA MESS- 
LER (153), his wife, had four children: 

204. Maria, bom in 1806, and died early. 

205. Anne, born July 17, 1808, and died March 9, 1880. 
On May 9, 1826, she married William L. Warner, who was 
bom May 12, 1800, and who died August 28, 1835. They lived 
in New York. 

206. Eliza, born June 14, 1810, and died April 9, 1883. 
On October 30, 1834, she married John Titus, who was born 
April 30, 1802, and who died April 14, 1855. They lived at 
Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. 

207. Benjamin, born May 9, 1817, and died March 2, 
1 88 1. He was a merchant in New York, and married Eliza 
Goble, April 25, 1839. 

GILBERT GULICK and LAM ACHE MESSLER (154), 
his wife, had eleven children : 

208. Henry, bom January 20, 1808, and died at Paris, 
Kenosha County, Wis., December 24, 1854. On May 27, 1829, 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 53 



he married Mehitabel Purdy, who was born October 25, 1802. 
She died in New Jersey, May 10, 1878. 

209. Maria, bom March 5, 1810, and died in Kenosha 
County, Wis., November 27, 1887. She married Harvey 
Gary in 1830, who died September 13, 1861. 

210. Gertrude, born in New Jersey, April 15, 18 12, and 
died August i, 1870. She married Joseph Fulkenburgh, who 
was born August 29, 181 1. He was a farmer and they Hved 
at East Varick, Seneca Gounty, N. Y. He died September 
7, 1884. 

211. GoRNELius M., born in New Jersey, December 23, 
1814, and died at Paris, Wis., April 12, 1885. He married 
as his first wife Bathiah Pierce, July 4, 1848, who was born 
May 25, 1825, and died September 25, 1857. His second 
wife was Mary Ann McGill, whom he married February 23, 
1859, who was born July 13. 1838, and died October 21, 1882. 
He was a farmer and they lived in Kenosha Gounty, Wis. 

212. Eliza, born in New Jersey, December 13, 181 5, and 
died July 6, 1873. She married Joseph Oliver Morse of 
Elmira, N. Y., June 26, 1838, who was born January 14, 1814, 
and died August 19, 1882. 

213. Jane, born at Ovid, N. Y., November 14, 1817. and 
died in Wisconsin, March 3, 1884. She married first Abraham 
Hathaway, a farmer in Minnesota, May 20, 1844, who died 
at Dodge Genter, Minn., May 23, 1873. She married as 
her second husband, Joseph Oliver Morse, her brother-in-law, 
March 12, 1875. She had no children by either husband. 

214. Magdalen A, born at Varick, N. Y., September 30, 
1819, and it is known that up to within a few years since she 
was still living in the State of Michigan. Her first husband 
was Benjamin Hathaway, whom she married at Seneca Falls, 
N. Y., July 2"], 1848, who was born June 5, 181 1, at Romulus, 
N. Y. They removed to Dover, Mich., where he died May 3, 
1858. As her second husband, she married Ira Rogers of 
Michigan, November 21, 1866. He was born May 6, 1804, at 
Grafton, N. Y.. and died October 23, 1886. 

215. Anne, born at Varick, N. Y., February 16, 1822, and 
up to a comparatively recent period was still living at Kendaia, 
N. Y. She married Milton S. Everett, May 4, 1844. He was 
a house painter, and was born December 27, 181 7, and died 
August 2.^, 1875. 

216. Catherine, born at Varick, N. Y., September 18, 
1824. It is not known whether she is still living or not. She 
lived at Seneca Falls, N. Y., and did not marry. 

217. Abraham, born at Varick, N. Y., October 7, 1829. 



54 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



He was a farmer living at Kenosha, Wis. He married Maluna 
Moe, February 3, 1861. She was born October 18, 1839. 

218. IsAAC^ born in December, 1831, and died the same day. 

DENNIS MESSLER (155) and MARGARET QUICK, 
his wife, had six children: 

219. Lena, born May 10, 1813, and died July 24, 1815. 

220. Cornelius, born March 29, 181 5. He did not marry 
and was a farmer living at Romulus, N. Y. 

221. Catherine, born October 8, 1816. She married first 
William Camber, March 22, 1854, who was born at Varick, 
N. Y., December 11, 1814. As her second husband she mar- 
ried Isaac Spalding, May 15, 1883, who was born at Varick, 
N. Y., August 25, 181 5. 

222. John Quick, born February 6, 1819. He married 
Matilda Neal, February 19, 1849, who was born Novembef 
2, 1823. He was a farmer and they lived at Sheldrake, Seneca 
County, N. Y. 

223. JuDAH, born January 6, 1822, and died May 6, 1858. 

224. Abraham, born March 23, 1825. He married first 
Caroline Matthews, March 7, 1849, who was born February 20, 
1825, and died January 19, 1858. His second wife was Phoebe 
Ann Matthews, whom he married June 23, 1858, who was born 
January 3, 1837. He was a farmer and they lived at Romulus, 
N. Y. He died May 20, 1889. 

t 

GARRET COUENHOVEN (Conover) and ANNA 
MESSLER (157), his wife, had five children : 

225. Cornelius, born October 22, 1813, and died Novem- 
ber 16, 1816. 

226. John, born November 22, 181 5, and died June 26, 
1816. 

2.2'j. Eleanor, bom November 16, 1816, and died March 
I, 1819. 

228. Leanah, born January 18, 1820. She married Philip 
D. Lare, September 23, 1846, who was born March 20, 1820, 
and died April 22, 1887. He was a farmer and they lived at 
White House, N. J. 

229. Peter M., born February 16, 1821. He married Har- 
riet Best, April 13, 1850, who was born August 20, 1821. He 
was a farmer and they also lived at White House, N. J. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 55 

BERGEN DAVIS and ANNA MESSLER (157), his 
wife, had three children : 

230. Abraham, born June 10, 1832. He married first 
Cynthia Ann Jerolamon, February i, i860, who was born 
April 10, 1840, and died November 14, 1880. He married 
as his second wife, Elizabeth Dickerson, June 25, 1882, who 
was born February i, 1836. He was a farmer and they lived 
at Three Bridges, N. J. 

231. Jane, born December 28, 1833. She married John 
M. Yawger, November 14, 1855. He was a farmer and they 
lived at Neshanic, N. J. 

232. John B., born March 10, 1838. He married Mary 
Ann Wyckoff, October 27, i860, who was born March 25, 
1841. He was a merchant, and they lived at White House, N. J. 

LUCUS MESSLER (158) and ELEANOR VANDER- 
BILT, his wife, had twelve children : 

233. Jane Anne, born March 31, 1812, and died at Buffalo, 
N. Y., September 6, 1850. She married Cornelius A. Van 
Slyke, April 18, 1833, at Rochester, N. Y,, afterwards re- 
moving with him to Buffalo. He was born at Schenectady, N. 
Y., July 8, 1808, and died November 15, 1869. 

234. Maria, born February 23, 1814. She married Asbrah 
Huntoon, January 21, 1832, at Rochester, N. Y. They after- 
wards removed to Port Gibson, Ontario County, N. Y., where 
she died August 2, 1840. 

235. Eliza, born November 8, 181 5. She married Sam- 
uel F. Witherspoon of Rochester, N. Y., in May, 1836. He 
was born at Newberry, Vt., January 4, 181 1, and settled at 
Rochester. For more than fifty years he was engaged in the 
grocery and provision business, and was still living in Rochester 
up to within a few years — a gentleman highly esteemed. She 
died at Rochester, March 29, 1885. 

236. Cornelius, born September 26, 1818. He married 
Margaret Case at Alton, N. Y., January i, 1843, who was 
born at Phelpstown, N. Y., July 16, 1823. He was a carpenter, 
and died at Cross Village, Emmet County, Mich., July 12, 1884. 

237. John, born September 11. 1819. He married first 
Sarah Hubbs, April 19, 1841, at Richmond. Va., by whom he 
had no children. She died June 27, 1842. He married as his 
second wife Mary Ann Kennedy, at Richmond, September 15, 
1846. 

238. Helena, born June 8, 1821. She married Asbrah 



5^ MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



Huntoon, June 12, 1843, she being a sister of his first wife. 
They Hved at Port Gibson, N. Y. 

239. JuLETiA, born January 23, 1823, and died July 24, 
1824. 

240. Isaac Curtis, born July 21, 1825. He married So- 
phia Mott at Buffalo, N. Y., August 18, 1853, who was born 
May 12, 1826, near Hastings, England. He was a carpenter 
and they lived at Camden, N. J. 

241. William Henry, born January i, 1827, and died 
October 22d of the same year. 

242. Charlotte, born November 11, 1828. She married 
Dr. Horatio N. Lowe at Buffalo, N. Y., April 25, 1853, who 
was born in Auburn, N. Y., in 1826. They removed to Roches- 
ter, N. Y., where she died September 29, 1876. 

243. Emily, bom June 11, 1831, and died May 11, 1832. 

244. Henry Vanderbilt, born November i, 1832. He 
married Susan A. Matthews at New Market, Nelson ^County, 
Va., May 6, 1868. She was born at New Market, October 
21, 1845. 

JOHN MESSLER (159) and ANNE BERGEN, his 
wife, had nine children : 

245. Evert Bergen, born February 6, 181 7, and died April 
T, 1879. He married Hannah Berton, by whom he had no 
children. 

246. Cornelius, born December i, 181 8. He married 
Catherine Bartles, September 23, 1844, who was born at New 
Germantown, N. J., October 27, 1823. He was a wheelwright 
for seventeen years after his marriage, when he became a far- 
mer until 1873. when he retired to live on his competency. He 
lived at White House, N. J., and died December 5, 1879.' 

247. William, born August 31, 1820. He married Cha- 
rity Ann Potter, January 16, 1843, who was born December 
31, 1821. He was a farmer and died August 16, 1888. 

248. Aletta, born at Readington, N. J., May 21, 1823. 
She married first Leonard Corwin, October 5, 1859, who was 
bom at Lebanon, N. J., July 10, 1814. Thev lived at Jackson- 
burg, Warren County, N. J., and in 1865 thev moved to Wal- 
nut Valley, N. J., and there he died August 7, 1876. In 1884 
she married Charies Van Scotten, who was born in 1822. 
Shortly after their marriage thev removed to Montana, Warren 
County, N. J., and afterwards to Lebanon, N. J. Her first 
husband was a blacksmith, and the second a stonemason. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 57 



249. Abraham, born October 3, 1825. He did not marry 
and was a farmer, living at New Germantown, N. J. 

250. Mary, born December 23, 1829, and died April 8, 
1836. 

251. Isaac, born September 3, 183 1. He married Mar- 
garet Cortwright at Blairstown, N. J., December 18, 1852, 
who was born March 21, 1834, They lived for a number of 
years at Newton, Sussex County, N. J., and afterwards, in 
1884, they removed to Stroudsburg, Pa. 

252. John Livingston, born October 19, 1835. He mar- 
ried Mary C. Kinney, February 10, i860, who was born on the 
same day, and in the same month and year that he was. They 
lived at Stillwater, Sussex County, N. J. 

253. Simon Hillyer, born August 13, 1839. He married 
Emma Angle, November 15, 1866, who was born June 2, 1845. 
He was a farmer and they lived at Blairstown, N. J. 

PETER MESSLER (160) and ESTHER SMITH, his 
wife, had four children : 

254. William Smith, born October 14, 1823. He mar- 
ried Margaret M. Van Zandt, January 20, 1847, who was 
born December 10, 1825, and died December 2, 1884. He 
was engaged in the real estate business, and they resided in 
New York. 

255. Dennis Stryker, bom April 13, 1828. He married 
Margaret Van Arsdale at Bedminster, N. J., October i, 1849. 
She died in Philadelphia, November 20, 1882. He served as 
First Sergeant in Company A, 31st Regiment of New Jersey 
Volunteers during the War of the Rebellion. He was a mer- 
chant and resided in Philadelphia after the conclusion of the 
war. 

256. Cornelius Smith, born February 10, 1830. He 
married Susan Frances Dunham of Liberty Corner. N. J., 
December 10, 1862, who was born October 22, 1835. They 
lived for some years in Somerville, N. J., and afterwards 
moved to Newark, N. J., where he died February 4, 1883. _ He 
was a druggist and in his private character was an upright, 
Christian man, and remarkably honest and just in his business 
principles. She died May 13, 1893. 

257. Sarah Maria, born January 26, 1833. She did not 
marrv and died June 29, 1853, and was interred at Bedminster, 
N. J.^ 



58 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

ABRAHAM MESSLER (i6i) and ELMA DOREMUS, 
his wife, had nine children : 

258. Mary Stryker, born December 23, 1827. She mar- 
ried Hon. Charles W. Swift of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Novem- 
ber 19, 1851. He was born June 27, 1812. He was a student 
at Rutgers College, and afterwards became a member of the 
class of '33 at Yale. 

He was a lawyer by profession and a man of means and 
influence, and was the first mayor of Poughkeepsie. In his 
private character he was a man of culture, fine business judg- 
ment and of generous impulses. While driving from his farm 
near Poughkeepsie in company with his wife, he was suddenly 
stricken with heart disease and died without warning on the 
anniversary of his marriage, November 19, 1877, greatly 
lamented by all who knew him. His widow is still living in 
Poughkeepsie with her unmarried daughter, Elma. 

259. Helen Doremus, born November 22, 1830. She 
married Edward L. Covert of Somerville, N. J., in 1853, who 
was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., July 7, 1831. He was originally 
interested with his father in the manufacture of paper at 
Raritan, N. J. Afterwards he turned his attention to various 
employments, and finally entered the service of the United 
States Government in tlie Surgeon General's office at Wash- 
ington. 

Pie died after a short illness of typhoid fever, December 
22, 1866. His remains were interred at Somerville. His 
widow is still living and resides with her three sons in Alle- 
gheny City, Pa, 

260. Thomas Doremus,* born at Somerville, N. J., May 
9. 1833. 

*Thomas Doremus Messier was descended from staunch Hol- 
land stock, a race of pioneers in colonial America, characterized to 
a marked extent by industry, thrift and intelligence. He was born 
at Somerville, Somerset County, N. J., on the 9th of May, 1833, 
being the first son of Elma Doremus and the Rev. Dr. Abraham 
Messier, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and regarded 
throughout the State of New Jersey as a man of eminence, piiety and 
influence. 

Mr. Messler's childhood and boyhood were passed in Somerville, 
and there he received his early education at the old Somerville Acad- 
emy, and where _ he was prepared to enter the Freshman Class of 
Rutgers College in New Brunswick. On the eve of his proposed en- 
trance to college, however, he resolved to take up business instead; 
and, accordingly, in March, 1849, being then in his sixteenth year, he 
found employment in the wholesale dry goods house of Doremus, 
Suydam & Nixon, in New York City, of which his uncle, Thomas C. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 59 



He married Maria Remsen Varick, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 
June 3, 1857, who was born at Poughkeepsie, August 13, 

1833. (She was the oldest daughter of John Remsen Varick 
and Susan Brinckerhoff Storm, both of whom died when their 
children were quite young.) In early manhood he removed to 
Pittsburg, Pa., where he was engaged in the railway service 
until the time of his death, on August ii, 1893. His widow is 
still living and resides with her elder son in Pittsburg. 

261. Henry Martyn, born at Somerville, October 11, 

1834. He married Olivia Michaels, of New York, in Novem- 
ber, 1858. After finishing his school education at the Somer- 
ville Academy, he entered, in 1853, the service of the New York 
& Erie Railroad Company in New York, in the same depart- 

Doremus, was the senior partner. With this firm he remained some- 
what over three years, when a more favorable opportunity presented 
itself in an offer of a position with what was then the New York 
& Erie Railroad Company, now known as the Erie Railroad. 

Mr. Messler's first experience in the raiilway service commenced 
in the office of the company's auditor, Mr. William E. Warren, in 
August, 1852. In this office he worked hard and faithfully, and he 
soon won the esteem and confidence of the officers and employees with 
whom he was brought in contact. The department with which he was 
connected embraced the auditing of accounts, and through this cir- 
cumstance he seems to have had business relations for the railroad 
company with a number of the prominent New York banking houses 
of that day. He held his position with the New York & Erie Railroad 
Company for four years, when, having attracted the attention of 
Messrs. Moran Brothers, a banking firm in New York, it was pro- 
posed that he go to Pittsburg and accept the office of Secretary and 
Auditor of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company, 
a company operating a new line of railroad then about completed 
between Pittsburg and Chicago. 

To a young man of but twenty-three the offer was a tempting one 
in the way of increased pecuniary rewards and further possible ad- 
vancement in the future, as well as being a recognition of merit and 
ability. But Mr. Messier had misgivings as to the propriety of the 
change and he hesitated. 

He finally decided to accept the offer, and in August, 1856, he 
came to Pittsburg and at once assumed the duties of his new office. 
He was now in a community to which he had hitherto been a stranger, 
with neither friend nor even acquaintance at the outset to extend to 
him a welcoming hand. 

With a comparatively brief experience in railway science, he 
found his position with this company arduous in the extreme. The 
department over which he had supervision had been conducted there- 
tofore with but little method and exactness. The accounts were 
seemingly in a hopeless tangle, and it was for him to unravel the 
mass by process of a reorganization of this department on the lines 
of modern railway accounting as then known to and practiced by the 
older railway companies in the East. It was a severe task. 

More than a year elapsed before it was accomplished and the 



6o MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



ment with his brother Thomas. Subsequently, in 1857, he 
became connected with the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad 
Company, but early in 1858 he returned to New York and 
entered the treasury department of the Delaware, Lackawanna 
& Western Railroad Company. He was constitutionally of deli- 
cate health, and as the result of a cold contracted from expo- 
sure on the occasion of a memorable event in Wall Street, he 
was attacked with hasty consumption and died in New York 
on Christmas Day, 1858. He was buried at Somerville. He 
had been married but six weeks, and by him his wife had no 
issue. 

262. Sarah Doremus, born at Somerville, February i, 

plan of accounting satisfactorily formulated and put in operation. 
It was at this time, or possibly a year or so later, that he evolved a 
system of railway accounting, having for its object simplicity, com- 
prehensiveness and classification. This system of accounting be- 
came known subsequently as the "Messier System," and it has been 
generally adopted by the more important railway companies of the 
country, with modifications, in some instances, as environment or 
particular conditions may have suggested. 

Mr. Messier continued in the service of the old Fort Wayne Com- 
pany until its lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in July, 
1869, having been promoted in the meantime, through various grades 
to the position of assistant to the president, the late Hon. George 
W. Cass. In the interest of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
he was made comptroller of the Pennsylvania Company on July i, 
1871, and afterwards, lin 1876, the office of third vice-president was in 
addition conferred upon him. This latter company was a corporation 
organized in 1870 to manage and operate an extensive system of 
railroad lines running west of Pittsburg, and affiliated with the 
Pennsylvania Railroad. In later years and at different periods, he 
became chief executive officer of many of the auxiliary corporations 
controlled by the Pennsylvania Company in the interest of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company. He was president of the St. Louis, Van- 
dalia & Terre Haute Railroad, the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley 
Railroad, the North Western Ohio Railway, the East St. Louis & 
Carondelet Railroad, the Ohio Connecting Railroad, and the In- 
dianapolis & Vincennes Railroad. In the same interests he was like- 
wise vice-president of the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad Com- 
pany, and chairman of the executive committee of the Grand Rapids 
& Indiana Railroad Company. As an officer of the Pennsylvania 
Company, he was also third vice-president of the Pittsburg, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. He was also a direc- 
tor of the Merchants' & Manufacturers' National Bank of Pittsburg, 
and resident chairman of the local board of the Guarantee Company 
of North America, a Canadian company, with a branch office in Pitts- 
burg. He was also a Trustee of the Shady Side Academy in Pitts- 
burg. 

The duties of the various offices held by him he discharged with 
fidelity and commendable ability, particularly in the line of railway 
financiering, of which he early became a student, not through prac- 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 6i 



1837. She did not marry and is still living in the old home 
in Somerville with her sister Emily. 

263. Elma Bogert, bom at Somerville, December 30, 1839. 
She was an exceedingly bright and intelligent child, but her 
>oung life was cut short, and she died August 28, 1846. She 
was buried at Somerville. 

264. Cornelia, born at Somerville, October 22, 1841. She 
married John T. Grimsley, of Springfield, Illinois, December 
12, 1871, to which city she removed with him after her mar- 
riage. 

He was born at Springfield, February 3, 1848, and is a 
partner in an extensive dry goods house in that city, where he 
still lives. His mother was a cousin of the late Mrs. Lincoln, 

tice and observation alone, but through close reading of the literature 
bearing upon the subject. 

His long and honorable career in the railway service covered a 
period of forty-one years, namely, from August, 1852, to August, 1893. 
Among railroad officers he was regarded far and wide as a railroad 
accounting financier of conspicuous ability, remarkably clear-headed 
and self-poised. 

The commencement of the close of his active career dates from the 
year 1889. He had then reached the height of his usefulness and 
influence in official position, and was in the prime of mental vigor. 
But suddenly and without warning, on an excessively hot morning in 
July of that year, he was stricken in his office with what appeared to 
be apoplexy, but which was later determined to have been the burst- 
ing of a small blood vessel in the brain. As soon as possible he was 
taken to his home, where he lay in a precarious state for some weeks. 
By the first of August he was removed to Cresson Springs in the 
Allegheny Mountains. Here he commenced to improve slowly, and 
early in the following year he was able to agaiin take up the thread 
of work. He never afterwards, however, regained complete strength. 
His health was broken. In 1891 he gave up many of his responsible 
duties, but still retained the office of third vice-president of the 
Pennsylvania Company. From this period on his strength declined 
perceptibly. In the following year irregularity of the heart action 
appeared. 

The closing years of his life were marked by the same steadfast- 
ness, courage and patience into which he had, in his younger days, 
so well schooled himself. 

In July, 1893. owing to increasing weakness, he again went to the 
mountains, where, shortly after his arrival, he was obliged to confine 
himself to his room. He rapidly failed and it soon became evident 
that he could live but a little longer. Early in the dawn of a beautiful 
August morning, with nature just breaking into life, the Angel came 
and beckoned. And in a moment his spirit had been translated. 

He was unconscious for two days before his death, and he passed 
away peacefully at the Mountain House, Cresson, at twenty minutes 
past five o'clock in the morning of the nth of August, 1893. 

Mr. Messier was married at Poughkeepsie, New York, on June 3, 



62 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

widow of the martyred president, and was a bridesmaid at Mrs. 
Lincoln's wedding. This daughter, CorneHa, died at Spring- 
field after a long and painful illness, March 20, 1891, and 
was buried there. 

265. Anna Frances, born at Somerville. January 23, 
1844. She died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., August 5, 1853, and 
was buried at Somerville. 

266. Emily^ born at Somerville, January 13, 1847. She 
did not marry and is still living in the old Somerville home 
with her sister Sarah. 

1857, to M-iss Maria Remsen Varick, a daughter of John Remsen 
Varick and Susan Brinckerhofif Storm. 

Mrs. Messier survived her husband with two sons, Remsen Varick 
Messier and Eugene Lawrence Messier. 

In personal appearance Mr. Messier was a good type of sturdy- 
American manhood. 

His abilities and mental balance he inherited in a striking degree 
from his father and his grandfather before him. He possessed a cer- 
tain judicial cast of mind which was always exhibited when address- 
ing any question of importance, whether in the line of official duty, 
or in private conduct. In addition to the qualities of continuity of 
purpose, a high sense of honor and the observance of the moral obli- 
gations towards his fellow-men in business intercourse, he early 
formed a disposition for cultivating the intellectual and aesthetic part 
of his nature, and an appreciation of the amenities of human life. 
Like his father he was a man of scholarly tastes. Throughout many 
years he had gradually collected a very considerable private library, 
embracing a wiide field of literature, and from this source he enriched 
his mind in extensive reading in many branches of useful and divert- 
ing knowledge. He was essentially a home-loving man, and here was 
most felt the influence of his kindly and strengthening presence. He 
was a dignified, self-respecting man, conscious in his life of recti- 
tude and honor. 

Throughout all his life, from early manhood to the close, he fol- 
lowed m the path of high resolve. Gentlemanly and courteous in de- 
meanor, though somewhat retiring in social intercourse, he always at 
once commanded respect and attention. 

He left, indeed, an honorable record in the community of Pitts- 
burg. 

Mr. Messier was a member of the Duquesne Club, and of the 
Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, in right of his 
grandfather, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. 

He was also a member of the Holland Society of New York, 
by reason of his descent in the direct male line from a Hollander, 
who was a resident of the American colonies prior to the year 1675. 
Mr. Messier had traveled considerably throughout the United States 
and Canada, and had also viisited Europe twice — once in 1878, and 
again in 1891. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 63 



ISAAC MESSLER (162) and HENRIETTA REGER, 
his wife, had two children : 

267. Cornelius, born June 6, 1835. He married Ellen 
Jane Davis, February 18, 1858, who was born March 15, 1834. 
He was a farmer and they lived at Whitehouse, N. J. 

268. Sarah Catherine, born June 19, 1844. She mar- 
ried George J. Buckley, May 25, 1887. He was a farmer and 
they lived on the old homestead of her father at Whitehouse, 
N. J. 

JOHN VLIET MESSLER (172) and ELLEN SMITH, 
his wife, had ten children : 

269. Elizabeth, born April 29, 1819. She married Valen- 
tine Nungester. 

270. Cornelius, born December 23, 1820. He married 
Lydia Leonard, October 22, 1840, who was born May 14, 1820. 

271. Jacob, the date of whose birth being unknown. He 
did not marry. He enlisted in the United States army during 
the Mexican War, and is supposed to have been killed in action 
or to have died of disease in the service, as he was never 
heard of after his departure with the troops. 

272. John Vliet, Jr., the date of whose birth being like- 
wise unknown. He married Elizabeth Massacar. 

273. Isaac, born October 9, 1827. He married Jane Spear, 
August 26, 1848. 

274. Ira Pruden, born December 15, 1830, and died De- 
cember 15, 1884. He married Libby Ann Peary, January 15, 
1850, who was bom November 30, 1830. 

275. Sarah, born September 20, 1832. She married a 
man named Miller. 

276. William H., born February 29, 1835. He married 
Sarah J. Shipman, November 26, 1855, who was born June 26, 
1836. He was a hardware merchant and they lived at Mor- 
ristown, N. J. 

lyy. Ellen Frances, bom August 19, 1838. She married 
Jacob L. Mattox, October i, 1859, who was bora May 25, 1837. 

278. Margaret, born October 16, 1840. She married 
William Van Notten. 

BENJAMIN SMITH and GERTRUDE MESSLER 
(173)' ^lis wife, had five children: 

_ 279. Rachel, born March 5, 1819. She married Michael 
Kinsella, who was born September 29, 1812. They lived 
at Morristown. 



64 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



280. Jacob, born September 5, 1821, and died May 11, 
1859. He married Jane Cramer, March 23, 1844. 

281. Benjamin, born January 7, 1824, and died Septem- 
ber 6, 1865. He married Catherine Riley, October 14, 1849. 
He subsequently served in the War of the Rebellion. 

282. Margaret, born July 23, 1829. She married Benja- 
min Goble, November 18, 1857, who was born December 29, 
1806. 

283. John, born in 1830, and died in 1834. 

JOHN McGOWAN and GERTRUDE MESSLER 
(173), his wife, had two children: 

284. Henrietta, born December 2, 1839. She married 
James P. Sullivan, November 7, 1866, who was born in 1839. 

285. Elizabeth, bom September 15, 1842. She married 
Levi Johnson, September 15, 1864. 

PETER MESSLER (187) and ELIZABETH MOR- 
FORD, his wife, had nine children: 

286. Bartzillar, bom at Somerville, N. J., November 17, 
1812, and married Mary A. Waterman, March 2, 1837, who 
was born in Virg-inia, September 28, 1816. He was a farmer 
and lived at Falls City, Nebraska. 

287. Cornelia, born in New Jersey, November 24, 1813, 
and married John S. Kelsey, November 2, 1837, who was 
born at Centreville, Ohio, January 13, 1816. They lived in 
Centreville, where he died, October 22, 1875. 

288. George W., born in New Jersey, April 7, 1815, and 
married Mary Beck, at Centreville, Ohio, in 1850. 

289. AcHSAH, born in New Jersey, November 3, 1817, and 
married Samuel B. Murphy, March 3, 1841, who was born at 
Bellbrook, Ohio, August 13, 1818. He died at Dayton, Ohio, 
January 31, 1891. 

290. Elizabeth, born in New Jersey, May 2j, 1820, and 
married Dr. Thomas Creighton, at Centreville, Ohio, May 
8, 1843, who was born May 3, 1810. They lived in Cincinnati, 
where he died September 7, 1886. 

291. Abraham, born at Hightstown, N. J., May 31, 1823, 
and died in infancy. 

292. Peter, born as above, December 21, 1825, and mar- 
ried Ellen Krider, at Dayton, Ohio, in 1862. He died August 
12, 1887. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 65 



293. William, born as above, October 22, 1829. 

294. WiLHELMiNA, born February 14, 1838, and died in 
childhood. 

JAMES J. MESSLER (192) and SARAH HORTON, 
his wife, had five children : 

295. An unnamed child, born April 14, 181 5, and died 
early. 

296. Mary, born January 6, 1817. She married John J. 
Crater, and died November 21, 1841. 

297. Nathaniel, born October 22, 1819, and married 
Lydia Houston, February 24, 1842, who was born April 11, 
1816. She died in 1883. 

298. Jacob, born March 16, 1824, and married Mary 
Demarest. 

299. Martha Esther, born January 7, 1833, and married 
Jacob Emmons, September 24, 1853, who was born August 
29, 1827. They lived at Union Grove, near Peapack, N. J. 

ISAAC C. MESSLER (193) and SARAH BRADY, his 
wife, had two children : 

300. John H., born June 6, 1825, and married Sarah K. 
Galbreath, September 30, 1847, who was born January 9, 1822, 
at Symmes Corner, Ohio. 

301. Martha H., born July 15, 1833, and married Joseph 
Fellinger, January i, 1850. He was born in Bavaria, Ger- 
many, December 18, 1819, and died March 22, 1879. 

PETER WORTMAN and MARIA MESSLER (194), 
his wife, had ten children : 

302. Jacob, born October 20, 18 15, and married Anne 
Emmons, December i, 1839, who was born February ii, 1815, 
and died May 8, 1862. He died November i, 1859. 

303. Elias, born June 8, 1819, and married Emeline Leak, 
June I, 1843, who was born February i, 1822. He died Octo- 
ber 31, 1884. 

304. Sarah Anne, born January 17, 1821, and married 
Andrew Rarick, October 6, 1839, who was born in 18 17, and 
died January 12, 1890. She died on the same day as her hus- 
band. 

305. Frances, born April 26, 1823, and died September, 
9, 1824. 

306. Margaret, born August 3, 1825, and married Wil- 



66 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

liam Dorlandt, January 3, 1847, who was bom May 29, 1822, 
and who died May 3, 1885. She died in the same year. 

307. Stephen, born August 23, 1827, and married 
Catherine MeHck, October 6, 1851, who was born March 16,. 
1830, and who died January 11, 1866. He married his second 
wife, Charlotte Barker, August 10, 1870, who was born Octo- 
ber 16, 1840, and who died December 28, 1870. He married his 
third wife, Harriet Henry, December 23, 1875, who was born 
December i, 1850. 

308. Catherine, born in February, 1830, and married 
Elijah Brown, September 28, 1853, who was bom October 
II, 1830, and who died in 1854. She married her second hus- 
band, Hiram Kennedy, May 16, 1858, who was bom October 
9, 1821, and who died January 27, 1865. She married her third 
husband, Tunis Cox, February 22, 1874, who was born Febru- 
ary 29, 1819, and who died August 25, 1889. 

309. Mary, born March i, 1832. 

310. Andrew J., born December 17, 1834, and died Febru- 
ary 6, 1835. 

311. Eliza, born June 26, 1837, and married Hiram Phil- 
hour, June 5, 1856, who was born July 18, 1836, and who died 
September 20, 1870. She married her second husband, Moses 
Amerman, November 7, 1875, who was bom August 19, 1813, 
and who died July 6, 1889. 

EIGHTH GENERATION. 

PETER BLEW and MARIA MESSLER (195), his 
wife, had two children : 

312. Abraham^ born near New Brunswick, N. J., in 1827. 
He married Deborah A. King, who was born at Boundbrook, 
N. J., and where he died, November 20, 1864. 

313. Sarah AIaria, born as above, in 1830, and died in 
1836. 

JOHN A. MANLEY and MARIA MESSLER (195), 
his wife, had five children : 

314. Adrian, born at New Brunswick, N. J., June 17, 
1836, and died there, May 2, 1837. 

315. Andrew, born as above, September 5, 1837, and mar- 
ried Mary D. Davis, November 29, 1861, who was born at 
Piscataway, N. J., and died at New Brunswick, in 1868. 

316. Mary Jane, born as above, September 25, 1839, and 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 67 



married William T. Hastings, an Eng-lishman, January i, 
1858. He was born in London, and they resided in Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 

317. Cornelia A., born as above, September 24, 1842, 
and died October 22, 1855. 

318. Jemimah M., born as above, October 5, 1846, and 
married Moses Sammis, March 16, 1870, who was born at 
Middleville, on Long Island, February 10, 1819. They lived 
at Northport, Long Island. 

DAVID LOREE and ANNE MESSLER (198), his wife, 
had four children: 

319. Sarah M., born at Washington Valley, N. J., No- 
vember 6, 1836, and married Amza Pierson, August 30, 1855. 
who was born at Morristown, N. J., July 29, 1822. 

320. Lewis M., born January 9, 1838, and married Laura 
Crane, November 6, 1859, who was born March 29, 1830, and 
died October 16, 1873. He died at Newark, N. J., June 25, 
1864. 

321. Susan J., bom August 13, 1843, and married George 
P. Sery, October 15, 1867. He was born in Ireland. She 
died at Morristown, N. J., April 9, 1883. 

322. Erastus a., born at New Vernon, N. J., March 18, 
1848, and married Adeline Call, March 10, 1875, who was 
born January i, 1851, and died April 6, 1876. He married 
his second wife, Mary J. Jameson, of Morristown, N. J., 
March 6, 1878, who was born November 22, 1849. They lived 
at Morristown, where he died. May 12, 1886. 

WILLIAM L. WARNER and ANNE ARROWSMITH 
(205), his wife, had five children: 

323. Susan Roome, born March 21, 1827. 

324. Anne Eliza, born February 18, 1829. She married 
J. H. Middlebrook. 

325. Leonard, born February 9, 1831, and died March 31, 

1831. 

326. Mary W., born March 10, 1832. 

327. Leonard W., born May 8, 1834, and married Sarah 
E. Longstreet, April 17, 1861. 

JOHN TITUS and ELIZA ARROWSMITH (206). his 
wife, had six children : 

328. Mary Eliza, born November 22, 1836, and died De- 
cember 17, 1872, 



6S MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



329. Benjamin, born October 23, 1838. 

330. Anne Amelia, born October 26, 1840. 

331. John Edmund, born February 22, 1843. 

332. Henry, born February 13, 1845, ^^d died May 4, 
1865. 

333. Joel, born March 29, 1847, ^"d married Isabella 
Rogers, May 31, 1870. 

BENJAMIN ARROWSMITH (207) and ELIZA CO- 
BLE, his wife, had three children : 

334. William G., born April 2,j, 1840, and died May i, 
1864. He married Kate Reed. 

335. Mary Anna, born July 14, 1841, and married S. 
Thompson Seger, November 14, 1863. 

336. Emma, born November 30, 1850, and died January 
16, 1882. She married Albert D. Brown, September 22, 1869, 
and as her second husband, Robert F. Stobo, on November 26, 
1874. 

HENRY GULICK (208) and MEHITABEL PURDY, 
his wife, had seven children : 

337. Gilbert, born April 7, 1830, and died March 30, 

1833- 

338. Thomas P., born March 21, 1832, and died March 
24, 1834. 

339. Charity, born July 18, 1834, and died April 13, 1837. 

340. Gilbert Henry, born March 7, 1837. 

341. Lamache, born March 17, 1840, and died two days 
later, 

342. Lametta M., born September 22, 1841. 

343. Charity, born December 11, 1845, and married James 
Brook, April 10, 1879, who was born in England, February 16, 
1838. 

HARVEY GARY and MARIA GULICK (209), his 
wife, had three children : 

344. Emeline, born in 1833, and died April 7, 1859. 

345. Eliza, born in 1834, and died April 14, 1863. 

346. Edward, born in 1838, and died in the army during 
the War of the Rebellion, February 8, 1865. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 69 

JOSEPH FULKENBURGH and GERTRUDE GU- 
LICK (210), his wife, had six children, 

347. Samuel C., born January 12, 1841, and married 
Susanne Ritter, February 14, 1863. 

348. Charles H., bom April 3, 1843, and married Lucy 
C. Clark, October 6, 1864, who was born February 12, 1845. 

349. Columbus, born January 4, 1846, and married Caro- 
line D. Parker, who was born in 1855. 

350. Martha, born May 22, 1853, and married William 
B. Woodruff. 

351. Sarah L., born May 29, 1854, and married Anson 
Downer, of Michigan, who was born February 2, 1853. They 
were married on March 21, 1877. 

352. Elma a., born April 21, 1857, and married Truman 
Bailey, February 17, 1880, who was born March 26, 1858. 

CORNELIUS M. GULICK (211) and MARY ANN 
McGILL, his wife, had three children: 

353. Florence B., born March 17, i860, and married 
Daniel F. Brister, February 23, 1886. 

354. Melta Louisa, born April 8, 1863, and married 
James Dabbs, October 3, 1889. 

355. Arthur Cornelius, born September 21, 1868. 

JOSEPH O. MORSE and ELIZA GULICK (212), his 
wife, had six children : 

356. Augustus, born September 18, 1839, and married 
Elsie J. Smith, September 17, 1866. 

357. Edward, born July 19, 1841, and married Rebeccah 
Francisco in November, 1866, 

358. Charles Henry, born May 28, 1844, and married 
Harriette Gary in 1869. 

359. John Gilbert, born July 22, 1847, ^^^ died February 
I, 1885. 

360. Mary Elizabeth, born March 11, 1849, ^"d married 
Edward J. Bridg-ewater in May, 1869. 

361. Cornelia, born February 22, 1857. 

MILTON S. EVERETT and ANNE GULICK (215), 
his wife, had nine children: 

362. Saron p., born May 5, 1846, and died April 22, 1847. 

363. Samuel J., a twin brother, born May 5, 1846, and 
married Emma Walters of Wisconsin, November 27, 1878. 



70 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

364. Saron E., born April 14, 1848, and married Ella C. 
Munson, November 28, 1871. 

365. Gilbert G., born May 10, 1850, and died April 19, 
1880. 

He married Marcia Hardy, November 6, 1872. 

366. Charles, born January 30, 1856, and died September 
II, 1876. 

367. Sarah Ada, born April i, 1858, and married Adel- 
bert Waugh, January 29, 1878, Avho was born July 2, 1851. 

368. Frederick, born November 14, i860, and died Sep- 
tember 26, 1863. 

369. George, born October 2, 1862, and died October 5, 
1863. 

370. Frederick G., born December 26, 1867. 

ABRAHAM GULICK (217) and MALUNA MOE, his 
wife, had four children: 

371. Lena Anna, born February 28, 1863, and married 
Willis A. Upson, December 28, 1887, who was born Septem- 
ber 7, i860. 

372. Jennie Lenota, bom November 30, 1867, and died 
April 22, 1868. 

373. Henrietta Iredia, born December 22, 1871. 

374. Francis M., born July 7, 1874, and died January 
10, 1875. 

^ JOHN Q. MESSLER (222) and MATILDA NEAL, his 
wife, had two children : 

375. LoRANA, bom January 14, 1852, and married Le Count 
Myers, April 6, 1869, who was born February 22, 1846. She 
died Ausj-ust 11, 1872. 

376. James Willard, born Aug-ust 19, i860, and married 
Harriette B. Smith, January 19, 1881. He was a merchant at 
Hayt's Corner, Seneca County, N. Y. 

ABRAHAM MESSLER (224) and CAROLINE MAT- 
THEWS, his wife, had two children : 

377. Dennis, born February 26, 1850, and died October 
23, 1871. 

378. Jeremiah, born February 20, 1853, and married Sa- 
rah A. Abbott at Glassborough, JST. Y., Febmary 5, 1880, 
who was bom February 22, 1858. He was a carpenter, and 
they lived at Hayt's Comer, N. Y. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 7 1 

ABRAHAM MESSLER (224) and PHOEBE ANN 
MATTHEWS, his wife, had three children : 

379. Martha Elma, born October 19, 1859, She did not 
marry, and died September 7, 1879. 

380. William Nicholas, born March 29, 1861. He lived 
at Ovid, in Seneca County, N. Y. 

381. Charles Rupert, born February 3, 1865. He like- 
wise lived at Ovid. These two sons were both farmers. 

PHILIP D. LARE and LEANAH COUENHOVEN 
(Conover) (228), his wife, had five children: 

382. Garret B., born June 6, 1848, and died April 23, 1878. 
He married Jennie E. Hall, June 17, 1872. 

383. Andrew E., born July 15, 1849, ^^^ died June 13, 

1851. 

384. David L., born June i, 1853, and married Mary M. 
Crate, December 17, 1874, who was born July 21, 1854. 

385. Mary J., born October 23, 1855, and died September 
28, 1856. 

386. Anna L., born December 2, 1856, and married Henry 
W. Kenney, July 19, 1876. 

PETER M. COUENHOVEN (Conover) (229). and 
HARRIET BEST, his wife, had two children: 

387. Frances A., born August 26, 1851, and married John 
Little, January 13, 1874. 

388. Anna E., born September i, 1853, and married 
George Hall, November 29, 1876. 

ABRAHAM DAVIS (230) and CYNTHIA ANN JERO- 
LAMON, his wife, had six children : 

389. Bergen, born November 11, i860, and died February 
16, 1867. 

390. David T., bom October 18, 1862. 

391. Annie J., born November 7, 1864. 

392. John, born January 14, 1868. 

393. Lydia R., born March i, 1870. 

394. William G., born April i, 1879. 

JOHN M. YAWGER and JANE DAVIS (231). his wife, 
had four children : 

395. Mary L., born June 8, 1856, and married Jacob Q. 
Carkhufif, May 13, 1876. 



72 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

396. Annie E., born November 25, 1857, and married 
William M. Dalley, May 13, 1876, a double wedding with that 
of her sister. 

397. Bergen D., born April 2, i860, and married Mary V. 
Case, December 5, 1883, who was born August 16, 1862. 

398. John H., born February 16, 1867. 

JOHN B. DAVIS (232) and MARY ANN WYCKOFF, 
his wife, had five children : 

399. Ella, born October 29, 1861. 

400. Laura, born August 24, 1865, and married Marcus 
Larde, November 29, 1887, who was born February 8, 1865. 

401. Margaret A., born January 7, 1872. 

402. Algemette, born January 7, 1879. 

403. John E., bom February 23, 1881. 

CORNELIUS A. VAN SLYKE and JANE ANNE 
MESSLER (233), his wife, had eight children: 

404. Lewis, bom at Rochester, N. Y., January 20, 1834. 
He was a bookkeeper, and died November 25, 1870. 

405. Samuel, born as above October 24, 1835, and died 
March 18, 1838. 

406. John Henry, born as above February 2, 1838, and 
died at Paterson, N. J., in December, 1889. He married Mar- 
ietta Siver at Buffalo, N. Y., August 10, 1859. 

407. Albert, born as above January 8, 1840, and married 
Orlinsko Strickland at Buffalo, November i, 1868. He was a 
bookkeeper, and died September 14, 1878. 

408. Allmon S.. born as above April 24, 1842, and died 
August 20, 1844. 

409. Ellen, born as above July 4, 1844, and died August 
12, 1845. 

410. Cornelius E., born as above November 18, 1845, 
and married Angelice Powers at Buffalo, June 14, 1866. 

411. Franklin, born as above January 7, 1849, and mar- 
ried Ella Bonnell at Buffalo, October 12, 1872. They lived in 
New York. 

ASBRAH HUNTOON and MARIA MESSLER (234), 
his wife, had three children : 

412. Adelphia, born January 20, 1834, and married J. 
Spencer Fisk, November 3, 1850. He was a farmer and went 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 73 



to the West many years ago and was not heard of afterwards 
by his family. 

His wife Hved at Port Gibson, N. Y. 

413. Emmaretta, born August i, 1836, and married Wil- 
liam C. Hoff, March 25, 1857. He was a farmer and died 
January 2.1, 1882. 

She was living up to within a few years at Newark, Wayne 
County, N. Y. 

414. AsBRAH, Jr., born at Manchester, Ontario County, 
N. Y., July I, 1839. He did not marry. During the Civil 
War he enlisted in Company H, 126th Regiment, New York 
Volunteers, as a private, August 11, 1862. He was promoted 
to First Sergeant in Company H, December i, 1862, and to 
Second Lieutenant in the same company, March 14, 1863. 
He was wounded in action at the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 
1863, but rejoined his regiment on August 6, 1863. He was 
appointed aide to Brigadier General Owen, commanding the 
Third Brigade, Third Division of the Second Army Corps, 
September 19, 1863, and promoted to First Lieutenant in 
Company H, October 22, 1863, and remained on General 
Owen's staff until June 8, 1864, when he died from the effects 
of a wound received at the battle of Cold Harbor, which took 
place June 5, 1864. He was in the battles of Harper's Ferry, 
Gettysburg, Auburn Ford, Mine Run, Morton's Ford, the Wil- 
derness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor. He 
was a gallant ofificer and a gentleman highly esteemed for his 
manly and genial qualities. 

SAMUEL F. WITHERSPOON and ELIZA MESSLER 
(235), his wife, had three children: 

415. Orlando, born February 4, 1837. He was educated 
at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and became an Episcopal 
clergyman. He married Cora V. Taylor at Middletown, 
Conn., in December, i860. He was settled at Birmingham, 
Conn., and died there April 14, 1886. He left a family, and 
his wife survived him. 

416. Joseph, born December 2, 1841, and died October 
23, 1848. 

417. Edward, born May 26, 1845, ^^'^ married Eugenia 
Toby of Rochester, N. Y., October 3, 1867. She died De- 
cember 18, 1869, leaving one child. He married his second 
wife, Edna J. Sprong, September 22, 1880. They resided at 



74 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was graduated from Rochester Uni- 
versity, and subsequently became a professor of music. 

CORNELIUS MESSLER (236) and MARGARET 
CASE, his wife, had three children : 

418. Ellen Adelia, born at Alton, N. Y., March 28, 1844, 
and married Joseph Gray, February 4, 1885, who was born 
in 1839. 

He was a carpenter, and they lived at Petoskey, Mich. 

419. Catherine Amelia, a twin, born March 28, 1844. 
She did not marry, and lived with her twin sister in Petoskey. 

420. James Henry, born March 28, 1852, and married 
Leilie May Cornor, February 22, 1882, who was born July 
27, 1863. 

JOHN MESSLER (237) and SARAH HUBBS, his first 
wife, had no children. 

JOHN MESSLER (237) and MARY ANN KENNEDY, 
his second wife, had seven children : 

421. Marcellus Orlando, born at Richmond, Va., August 
29, 1847, ^"d died June 10, 1848. 

422. John Albert, born November 25, 1849. He became 
a car-builder and lived in Richmond. 

423. Henry De Vere, born August 17, 1852, and married 
Josephine Ney, June 12, 1877. He was connected with the 
Domestic Machine Company, and resided just out of Rich- 
mond, in the county of Henrico. He was at one time a Lieu- 
tenant in the Walker Light Guard. He was a popular and 
intelligent citizen and died February 16, 1890. 

424. Ellen Catherine, born July 4, 1855. and married 
Richard Morien, April 23, 1882. They lived in Henrico 
County, Virginia. 

425. Cornelius Nelson, born September 28. 1858, and 
married Ruth Fowler, July 23, 1883. He was a printer, and 
they lived in Philadelphia. 

426. Charlotte Verena, born February 4, 1861. and mar- 
ried Henry Hegameyer, May 24, 1884. They lived in Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

427. Adelaide Regina, born November 23, 1864, and mar- 
ried James Hayes, September i, 1886. They also lived in 
Richmond. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 75 



ASBRAH HUNTOON and HELENA MESSLER 
(238), his wife, had five children: 

428. Maria, born April 11, 1844, and married Collins Hol- 
comb, November 24, 1868. He was a farmer and he died 
March 11, 1882. She survived him and lived at Port Gib- 
son, N. Y. 

429. Albert, born September 4, 1845, and married Hen- 
rietta Strong, May 13, 1869. He was a farmer, and they lived 
at Hopewell, Ontario County, N. Y. 

430. Francis, born March 14, 1847, and died July 18, 1847. 

431. Charles, born June 5, 1848, and married Amelia 
Terry. 

He was a railway conductor, and they lived in Minne- 
apolis, Minn. 

432. Francis, born in 1850, and married Eleanor Mac- 
Omber. He was a carpenter and joiner, and they lived at 
Shortsville, N. Y. 

ISAAC CURTIS MESSLER (240) and SOPHIA 
MOTT, his wife, had three children : 

433. Ella Cora, born July 31, 1854. She was a student 
in the Philadelphia School of Design, and afterwards became 
a teacher of music, drawing, and painting. She lived in Cam- 
den, N. J. 

434. Caroline Charlotte, born July 22. 1856. She be- 
came a school teacher, and lived in Camden. 

435. Frances Jane, born April 27, i860. She likewise be- 
came a school teacher, and lived with her parents in Camden. 

DR. HORATIO N. LOWE and CHARLOTTE MESS- 
LER (242), his wife, had one child: 

436. Caroline Eleanor, born at Rochester, N. Y., May 
14, 1854, and married James Banks Gilbert at Rochester, De- 
cember 16, 1879, who was born at Savannah, Georgia, De- 
cember 21, 1853. 

He was a merchant at Oswego, Kas., where they resided. 

HENRY VANDERBILT MESSLER (244) and SUSAN 
A. MATTHEWS, his wife, had ten children : 

437. James Arthur, born February 7, 1869, and died June 
14, 1871. 



76 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



438. Elizabeth, born January 21, 1870, and died October 
12, 1886. 

439. Mary Ella, born July i, 1872, and married William 
J. Sneed of Richmond, Va., July 5, 1888. She died May 8. 
1889. 

440. Harriet Vanderbilt, born March 16, 1875, and mar- 
ried Henry Currens Boyd at Lovingston, Va., November 29, 
1899. After their marriage they removed to Paducah, Ky. 

441. John Henry, born September 16, 1877. 

442. Edward Mundy, born February 17, 1879. 

_ Henry Vanderbilt Messier and his wife had four other 
children, but they were born dead. 

CORNELIUS MESSLER (246) and CATHERINE 
BARTLES, his wife, had two children : 

443. Charles Bartles, born September 17, 1845, and mar- 
ried Lydia J. Biggs, January 25, 1871. She died July 22, 
1889. He was engaged in various occupations, was a Justice 
of the Peace, and resided at White House, N. J. 

444. John Thomas, born March 5, 1848, and died May 
5, 1864. 

WILLIAM MESSLER (247) and CHARITY ANN 
POTTER, his wife, had eight children : 

445. John, born May 15, 1844, and married Sarah Smith, 
of Wyoming Valley, Pa., in 1866. 

446. Sarah, born September 8, 1846, and married Jacob 
Feicle, May 15, 1869. He died May 14, 1888. 

447. Daniel P., born May 15, 1848. He was a farmer at 
Gorman Valley, N. J. 

488. Alletta Ann, born July 9, 1850, at Fairmount, 
Hunterdon County, N. J. She married Martin B. Huyler, July 
25, 1868, who was born at New Germantown, N. J., March i, 
1847, and was a farmer living at Peapack, N. J. 

449. Henrietta, born September 20, 1852. 

450. Jacob N., born June i, 1855, and married Alice Condit, 
July 4, 1885. 

451. Margaret, bom September 10, 1857, and married 
Mahlon Smith, September 4, 1879. 

452. George B., born November 8, 1864, and died as the 
result of an accident, June 5, 1888. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 77 



LEONARD CORWIN and ALETTA MESSLER (248), 
his wife, had two children : 

453. George, born at Jacksonburg, N. J., November 11, 
i860, and died January 30, 1865. 

454. Mary A., born December 24, 1863, and married 
George J. Cole, December 24, 1883, at Sunnyside, Hunterdon 
County, N. J., who was born April 18, 1858. He was a farmer, 
and they lived at Lebanon, N. J. 

ISAAC MESSLER (251) and MARGARET CORT- 
RIGHT, his wife, had five children : 

455. John Preston, born at Newton, Sussex County, N. 
J., February 15, 1854, and died April 5, 1854. 

456. Anna Elizabeth, born June 26, 1856. She lived 
with her parents at Stroudsburg, Pa. 

457. Ida Maria, born July 25, 1861, and married John L. 
Keiser, May 15, 1878. They lived at Allentown, Pa. 

458. Charlton Edwin, born April 11, 1863, and died 
September 12, 1884. 

459. Rose Delphine, born February 4, 1871. 

JOHN L. MESSLER (252) and MARY C. KINNEY, his 
wife, had nine children : 

460. Kinney, born September 27, 1862, and married Lilian 
Stevenson, February 6, 1889, who was born November 17, 
1868. They lived at Somerville, N. J. 

461. Catherine, born June 19, 1863, and died August 8, 
1880. 

462. Simon H., born August 19, 1865, and married Elba 
Smith of Johnsonville, Pa., January i, 1889, who was bom 
April 20, 1868. 

463. Anna Mary, born September 15, 1868, and married 
John Ackerman, who was born September 8, 1864. They lived 
at Newton, N. J. 

464. George B., born September 23, 1871. He lived with 
his parents at Stillwater, N. J. 

465. Delbert J., born December 4, 1873. 

466. Jacob Clark, born January 13, 1877. 

467. Henry Vliet, born November 29, 1883. 

468. Anna B., born January 17, 1885. 



78 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

SIMON H. MESSLER (253) and EMMA ANGLE, his 
wife, had two children : 

469. John A., born August 26, 1868, and Hved with parents 
at Blairstown, N. J. 

470. Catherine^ born July 14, 1873, and lived at Blairs- 
town. 

WILLIAM S. MESSLER (254) and MARGARET M. 
VAN ZANDT, his wife, had seven children : 

471. John V., born March 22, 1848, and married Evelyn 
Willis at Somerville, N. J., May 18, 1873, who was born No- 
vember 3, 1854. He was a railway engineer, and they lived 
in New York. 

472. Peter S., born September 4, 1849, arid married Eldora 
S. A. Hewitt at Jersey City, N. J., July 8, 1880, who was bom 
August 5, 1855. He was likewise a railway engineer, and they 
lived in New York. He died October 10, 1902. 

473. William V., born August 6, 1851, and married Laura 
Hammond at Elgin, 111., February 8, 1877, who was born 
August 20, 1859. They resided at Elgin. 

474. David N., born January 22, 1856, and married Louetta 
Opdycke at Somerville, N. J., February 12, 1880. He is 
the publisher of the Somerville Democrat and manager of the 
Somerville Publishing Company. 

475. Gertrude, born December 27, 1858, and married 
Lewis S. Hewitt at Somerville, June 16, 1881. He was a 
machinist, and they lived at High Bridge, N. J. 

476. Cornelia, born July 14, 1861, and married Joseph S. 
Garwood at Somerville, September 30, 1884, who was born 
July 19, i860. 

He was a railway engineer, and they lived at Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 

477. Frederick McDowell, born at Pluckemin, N. J., 
August 30, 1863. He removed with his parents to Somerville 
when quite young, and there he received his education at the 
High School. 

After leaving school he entered into newspaper work, 
being employed on the Somerset Messenger and the Unionist 
Gazette. He subsequently went to Newark, N. J., where he 
was associated with the Advertiser in that city. In 1889, owing 
to ill health, he went to Asheville. N. C, where he resumed 
newspaper work. He remained in Asheville two years, when 
he returned north and again took his position with the Adver- 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 79 

tiser in Newark, but continued delicate health compelled him 
to go south permanently. He then became connected with 
the Asheville Nezvs. His interest in this paper he soon sold, 
and in 1895 he established a printing office in Asheville, and it 
has proved to him a well-established and successful business. 
On April 11, 1888, he married Mary Ella Giles at Bound Brook, 
N. J., who was born February 5, 1867. 

DENNIS S. MESSLER (255) and MARGARET VAN 
ARSDALE, his wife, had three children: 

478. Laura Maria, born at White House, N. J., June 19, 
1851. 

479. Edmund Arrowsmith, born at Bedminster, N. J., 
January 20, 1854. He was engaged in the lumber business in 
Philadelphia. 

480. Anna, born at New Germantown, N. J., October 12, 
i860, and married John C. Hess at Philadelphia, October 14, 
1884. He was born at Ellicott City, Md., November 22, i860, 
and died in Florida, March 2, 1895. 

CORNELIUS S. MESSLER (256) and SUSAN F. 
DUNHAM, his wife, had one child : 

481. Cornelius Everett, born at Bedminster, N. J., April 
2"/, 1865, and married Josephine CampbelL at Newark, N. J., 
July 30, 1892, who was born at Metuchen, N. J., August 26, 
1868, and died November 4, 1892. He was superintendent of 
the Newark Machine and Tool Works Company. 

CHARLES W. SWIFT and MARY S. MESSLER (258), 
his wife, had four children : 

482. Elma Doremus, born at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., June 
17, 1854. 

She was educated at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, and 
graduated in the class of 1873, ^s the saJutatorian, or second 
scholar of the class. She did not marry, and resides with her 
mother in Poughkeepsie. 

483. Frances Goldsmith, born at Poughkeepsie, May 23, 

1856. 

She likewise graduated at Vassar College, in the class of 
1875, with the rank in scholarship of salutatorian. She mar- 
ried John Doty, of New York, May 16, 1882. He was born 
at Northumberland, Saratoga County, N. Y., April 26, 1854. 
He was an instructor in one of the public schools of New York. 



8o MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



They reside at Pelham Manor, N. Y. 

484. Caroline Park, born at Poughkeepsie, November 17, 

1857- 

She also was a student at Vassar College, and graduated 

as the salutatorian of the class of 1877. She was married to 
Edward Storrs Atwater, of Poughkeepsie, January 20, 1880. 
He was born in Cincinnati, April 10, 1853. He was educated 
at Phillips' Academy, Andover, Mass., where he prepared for 
Yale University, from which institution he graduated with the 
class of 1875. He subsequently studied law and was admitted 
to the bar of New York, and has since practiced the profession. 
He is also president of the Farmers' National Bank of 
Poughkeepsie. He has at different times been a contributor 
to monthly periodicals of some interesting and scholarly arti- 
cles, chiefly on industrial and economic questions. 

485. Charles Warner, Jr., born at Poughkeepsie, Octo- 
ber 15, 1859. He received his early education in Poughkeepsie, 
subsequently becoming a student at Williston Academy, East 
Hampton, Mass. This institution he left after a time to enter 
Phillips', Andover, Academy, where it was his intention to pre- 
pare for admission to Yale, but the sudden death of his father, 
in 1877, caused a change of plan, with the result that, instead 
of taking a collegiate course, he entered the Columbia Law 
School of New York in 1878, and graduated with the degree 
of Bachelor of Laws with the class of 1880. He did not, how- 
ever, follow the law as a profession, but shortly after his ad- 
mission to the bar he entered into mercantile pursuits, in which 
he has since been engaged. He is at present in the coal busi- 
ness in Poughkeepsie. He married Adelaide Van Kleeck, of 
Poughkeepsie, April 20, 1881, and they reside in that city. 
She was born November 30, 1859. 

EDWARD L. COVERT and HELEN DOREMUS 
MESSLER (259), his wife, had six children: 

486. Frances Messler, born at Raritan, N. J., April 21, 
1854, and married George Mollison, June 6, 1877. He was 
born at Boundbrook, N. J., October 22, 1847, ^^^ they reside 
at Boundbrook. 

487. Caroline Phillips, bom at Somerville, N. J., Octo- 
ber 7, 1856. She is unmarried and is connected with the New 
York Hospital, and resides in New York. 

488. Charles Swift, born at Somerville, January 13, 1858. 
His early education was received at the Somerville schools. In 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 8i 

June, 1873, he went to Ashtabula, Ohio, where he was em- 
ployed with the Pittsburg, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad 
Company in the construction of the docks for that company 
on Lake Erie. In November of that year he came to Pitts- 
burg and accepted a position in the accounting department of 
the Pennsylvania Company, which controls, in the interest of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the auxiliary and allied 
lines of railway running west from Pittsburg. He has been 
connected with the Pennsylvania Company ever since, and now 
holds the position of Auditor of Passenger Receipts in that 
company and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railway Company. He is unmarried, and resides in Allegheny 
City, Pa. 

489. Richard Dykeman, bom at Somerville, May 17, 
i860. He also attended the Somerville schools, and in May, 
1877, he came to Pittsburg and assumed a position in the 
accounting department of the Pennsylvania Company and the 
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. 
With this department he has been connected since coming to 
Pittsburg, although in different positions. He is unmarried, 
and lives in Allegheny City. 

490. Elma Doremus, born at Washington, D. C, Decem- 
ber 25, 1864. 

She is unmarried, and resides with her brothers in Alle- 
gheny City. 

491. Edward Lamar, born at Washington, October 30, 
1866. 

After the death of his father, in December of that year, 
his mother removed to Somerville with her children, and there 
he received his schooling, coming also to Pittsburg in October, 
1883, as his brothers had done before him. Here he was em- 
ployed for some years in the department of maintenance of 
way of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- 
way Company. Later he was in the superintendent's office of 
that company, and at present he is the claimi agent of the 
company in the law department at Pittsburg. He is unmar- 
ried and lives in Allegheny City. 

THOMAS D. MESSLER (260) and MARIA R. 
VARICK, his wife, had three children : 

492. Remsen Varick^ born at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., March 
8, 1858. 

His primary education was obtained in several private 
schools in Pittsburg, 



82 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



In September, 1874, he was sent to Andover, Mass., where 
he entered Phillips' Academy. 

Having finished the course of study at the Academy he 
took the examinations for entrance to Yale University, and 
was admitted to the freshman class in September, 1876, gradu- 
ating with his class July i, 1880. 

While he was a student in Yale he was a member of the 
different societies, and was a member of the Junior Promenade 
Committee of 1879, and in 1880, at the commencement, he was 
chairman of the Class Day Committee. 

After graduation he returned to Pittsburg and passed the 
examination for registration as a law student in September, 
1880. He read law at the Yale Law School and in the office 
of Hon. George Shiras, Jr. (Yale '53), in Pittsburg, who was 
appointed by President Harrison, in 1892, a Justice of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. In October, 1882, Mr. 
Messier was admitted to the Allegheny County Bar at Pitts- 
burg, and in October, 1885, to the Bar of the Supreme Court 
of Pennsylvania. After passing the law examinations he re- 
mained two years in the office of Mr. Shiras, and early in 1885 
he opened an office of his own. He was a member of the 
Executive Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Associa- 
tion for two terms in 1888 and 1889. On December 12, 1883, 
he married Miss Agnes Caldwell, of Pittsburg. Since their 
marriage they have continued to make their home in Pittsburg. 
He is a member of the Holland Society of New York, of the 
Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution. He is also 
a member of the Pittsburg Club and of the Pittsburg Golf 
Club, of which latter organization he is a trustee, and be- 
came president in 1902. 

493. Henry Martyn, born at Pittsburg, September 4, 

1859- 

He died the following day, and was interred in the Alle- 
gheny Cemetery in Pittsburg. 

494. Eugene Lawrence, born in Allegheny City, Pa., 
April 6, 1873. His early education he received at a school in 
Allegheny, and in 1884 he attended school near his parents' 
residence in Shady Side, Pittsburg, for two years. In 1886 
he studied at the Shady Side Academy, then recently estab- 
lished to fill a much needed want in the growing residence 
neighborhood. Here he was prepared for college, and after 
a creditable examination he entered the freshman class of the 
Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, in September, 
1891, and after passing through the full course was graduated, 
in June, 1894, with the degree of Mechanical Engineer. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 83 



He inherited to a striking extent the activity and strong 
constitution of his ancestors. Although all through his course 
at Yale he maintained a good standing in scholarship, he kept 
in almost constant physical training. In the fall of his fresh- 
man year he was on the Freshman Foot-Ball eleven, and in the 
following spring he was a member of the Freshman Crew. In 
his junior and senior years he was a substitute on the Uni- 
versity eleven, and in June, 1893, he rowed No. 2 in the Uni- 
versity shell which won against Harvard UniversityJ's Crew, 
at New London, Conn., in one of the closest races in the his- 
tory of those contests on the water. He was a substitute on 
the Yale Crew of 1894, and was president of his class for 
two years. After he was graduated from Yale he returned to 
Pittsburg, and was employed with the Carnegie Steel Com- 
pany, at the Edgar Thomson Works at Bessemer, near Pitts- 
burg, where he remained about seven months. In July, 1895, 
he was transferred to Duquesne, Pa., and was connected with 
the same company, as assistant superintendent in the erection 
of the new Duquesne furnaces^ which are not only the most 
extensive in the land of the iron and steel mdustry, but the 
largest in the world. He is at present the superintendent of 
the Eliza furnaces of the Jones & Laughlins Steel Company, 
in Pittsburg. He is a member of the Pittsburg Club and of 
the Pittsburg Golf Club. He was married, on December 31, 
1898, to Elizabeth Verner Long, of Pittsburg. 

JOHN T. GRIMSLEY and CORNELIA MESSLER 
(264), his wife, had one child : 

495. Mary Swift, born at Springfield, 111., January 12, 
1875, and married Roy Fleetwood Donaldson, November 17, 
1896. 

They lived in Springfield, but subsequently removed to 
Peoria, 111. 

CORNELIUS MESSLER (267) and ELLEN JANE 
DAVIS, his wife, had five children: 

496. Mary Etta, born at Whitehouse, N. J., September 9, 
1859, and married Morris R. Cooke, December 30, 1885. 

497. Susan S., born as above, January 19, 1862, and mar- 
ried Lewis A. Compton, June 11, 1885. 

498. Anna Harriet, born as above, August 6, 1864. 

499. Isaac, born as above, August 4, 1867. 

500. Henry Martyn, born as above, December 22, 1873. 



84 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

VALENTINE NUNGESTER and ELIZABETH MESS- 
LER (269), his wife, had four children: 

501. William, born in 1840. 

502. Theodore, born in 1842. 

503. John, born in 1845. 

504. Charles, born in 1847. 

CORNELIUS MESSLER (270) and LYDIA LEON- 
ARD, his wife, had twelve children : 

505. Ann, born December 15, 1842, and married Halsey 
Cook, August 19, i860, and died May 11, 1874. 

506. Cornelius, born in October, 1844, and died October 
16, 1889. He lived at Scotch Plains, N. J. 

507. Catherine, born March 14, 1846, and married Al- 
phonse J. Laine, November 19, 1882. They resided at Plain- 
field, N. J. 

508. Isaac, bom October 12, 1847, and died September 20, 
1867. 

509. Jacob, born November 5, 1849. He lived at Scotch 
Plains. 

510. Charles, born April 29, 1852, He lived at Scotch 
Plains, and married Elizabeth Crue. 

511. Samuel, born March 16, 1854, and married Anna 
Abier. They lived at Rah way, N. J. 

512. Ira, born August 4, 1855, and died September 20, 

1875- 

513. William, born July 26, 1857. 

514. Elizabeth, born October 23, 1859, and married 
Charles Monfort, April 4, 1884, who was born October 28, 
1851. 

515. Sarah Eliza, born October 23, 1859, a twin sister 
to the above. She married James Radin, who was born Octo- 
ber 7, 1850. 

516. Alexander, born June 20, 1861. He lived at Scotch 
Plains, and married Catherine Roulston, December i, 1881. 

JOHN V. MESSLER, JR., (272) and ELIZABETH 
MASSACAR, his wife, had two children : 

517. John, born in 1849. 

518. Alfred, born in 1850. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 85 



ISAAC MESSLER (273) and JANE SPEAR, his wife, 
had two children: 

519. George C, born July n, 1849, at Madison, N. J. 
He married Delia Jerolomon, in 1870, who was born July 8, 
1847, at Peapack, N. J. They lived at Dunellen, N. J. 

520. Harriet L., born May 29, 1852, at Green Village, 
N. J. 

IRA P. MESSLER (274) and LIBBY ANN PEARY, 
his wife, had eleven children : 

521. Ellen, born May 19, 1852, and married Lewis Kelsh. 

522. William H., born February 16, 1854, and died early. 

523. Jane S., born February 27, 1856, and died early. 

524. Augustus C., born May 10, 1858. 

525. Frederick B., born November 27, i860. 

526. Silas M., born May 9, 1863. 

527. William G., born January 8, 1866. 

528. Caroline L., born April 14, 1868. 

529. George V., born July 7, 1871. 

530. Jane A., born May 2, 1874. 

531. Thomas S., born October 5, 1875. 

WILLIAM H. MESSLER (276) and SARAH J. SHIP- 
MAN, his wife, had fourteen children : 

532. Charles Albert, born at Mendham, N. J., June 5, 
1857, and died March 6, 1869. 

533. Walter V., born as above, January 17, 1859. 

534. Arthur, born as above, March 29, i860. 

535. Charles W., born as above, September 6, 1861. 

536. William H., Jr., born February 14, 1863, and died 
December 24, 1884. 

537. Etta, born December 6, 1863, and married Albert 
Lopacker. 

538. Celinea, born January 26, 1865, and married Eugene 
Woodhull. 

539. Anna, born May 5, 1866, and married Ralph W. 
Beers. 

540. Blanche, born July 22, 1869, and died August 8, 
1869. 

541. Frances C, born August 6, 1870, and died March 
20, 1872. 



S6 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

542. Harvey, born May 27, 1872, at Morristown, N. J. 

543. Francis, bom January 16, 1875, and died November 
14, 1881. 

544. Ida, born February 19, 1880, and died November 8, 

1881. 

545. Mabel, born in 1883. 

JACOB L. MATTOX and ELLEN F. MESSLER (277), 
his wife, had four children: 

546. Frances Eleanor, born at Morristown, N. J., De- 
cember 4, i860, and married William H. Smith, March 31, 
1885, who was born July 24, 1854. 

547. Jacob Leonard, born August 28, 1862, and married 
Jane A. Towles, May 9, 1884, who was born December 23, 
1867. 

548. Amy Alida, born at Rockaway, N. J., June 26, 1869. 

549. Florence Van Notten, born May 13, 1872. 

WILLIAM VAN NOTTEN and MARGARET MESS- 
LER (278), his wife, had one child: 

550. Frances, born in 1862. 

BARTZILLAR MESSLER (286) and MARY A. 
WATERMAN, his wife, had seven children : 

551. Lafayette, born in Ohio, April 28, 1838, and married 
Elizabeth Sparks, June 9, 1862. They lived in Falls City, Ne- 
braska. 

552. George W., born in Ohio, July 30, 1840, and married 
Maria Fosselman, January 25, 1863, who was born February 
10, 1842, in Trumbull County, Ohio. They lived at Stella, Ne- 
braska. 

553. Israel, born in Ohio, July 11, 1842, and married Mary 
A. Fosselman, July 20, 1876, who was born November 14, 1840. 
He was a farmer, and they lived at Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

554. Eliza Mary, born in Ohio, September 28, 1844, and 
married Hugh Slain, a farmer living in Huntington County, 
Indiana. 

555. Susannah, born in Ohio, in 1846, and married Uriah 
Derr, a farmer living at Falls City, Nebraska. 

556. William Albert, born in Indiana, January 12, 1850. 
He lived at Falls City. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 87 



557. Amos P., born in Indiana, May 11, 1857, and married 
Emma Fulton. They lived in Huntington County, Indiana. 

JOHN S. KELSEY and CORNELIA MESSLER (287), 
his wife, had seven children : 

558. Hester E., born at Centreville, O., August 17, 1838, 
and married William S. Lownes, March 28, 1867. They lived 
at Springborough, Warren County, O. She died December 22, 
1880. 

559. George W., born as above, August 14, 1840, and died 
September 25, 1841. 

560. WiLHELMiNA^ born as above, February 19, 1842. 

561. Melissa E., born as above, December 14, 1843. 

562. John A., born as above, January 10, 1846, and married 
Mary M. Sellers, August 16, 1870, who was born June 16, 1852. 

563. JOTHEM M., born as above, January 14, 1848, and 
married Rebecca M. Downs, July i, 1881, who was born in 
Illinois, March 15, 1863. 

564. Charles E., born as above, November 5, 185 1, and 
married Eliza M. Berryhill, October 6, 1880, who was born 
August 3, 1859. 

GEORGE W. MESSLER (288) and MARY BECK, his 
wife, had two children: 

565. Charles, born at Dayton O., June 8, 1852, and died 
November 4, of the same year. 

566. William, born at Bellbrook, O., December 24, 1855. 

SAMUEL B. MURPHY and ACHSAH MESSLER 
(289), his wife, had five children: 

567. Albert Asberry, born at Bellbrook, O., April 7, 1842, 
and died June 21, 1848. 

568. Mary Elizabeth, born as above, March 3, 1844, and 
married John C. Baggott at Cincinnati, January 18, 1872, who 
was born November 30, 1840. They lived at Dayton, where 
he died October 21, 1872. 

569. John C, born at Dayton, February 25, 1846, and died 
August 22, 1847. 

570. William R., born as above, August 23, 1848, and 
married Louise Hardon, March 4, 1874, who was born in Cin- 
cinnati, in 1850. 

571. Ella Janet, bom at Bellbrook, O., June 13, 1855. 



8S MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

DR. THOMAS CREIGHTON and ELIZABETH MESS- 
LER (290), his wife, had three children: 

572. Laura Isabella, born at Fletcher, O., November 28, 
1844, and married Edward Palmer, October 11, 1865, who was 
born in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1834. They lived in 
St. Louis, Mo. 

573. Cornelia A., born at Dayton, O., September 7, 1847, 
and married William A. Montgomery, July 27, 1865, who was 
born in Ireland, in 1834. They resided in Cincinnati. 

574. John T., born at Somerville, O., September 4, 1849, 
and died September 5, 1884. 

JOHN J. CRATER and MARY MESSLER (296), his 
wife, had four children : 

575. Sarah Ann, born in 1836, and married William L. 
Patrey. 

576. Emma Sophia, born in 1838, and married Sylvester 
Ball. 

577. Morris, born in 1839, and married Louisa Swick. 

578. Mary, born in 1841, and died in infancy. 

NATHANIEL MESSLER (297) and LYDIA HOUS- 
TON, his wife, had five children : 

579. Isaac, born April 20, 1844, and married Emma Plum- 
stead, February 10, 1873, who was born May i. 1852. 

580. Emily, born April 17, 1847, and married Aaron Rob- 
erts, September 14, 1867, who was born July i, 1842. 

581. Johanna, born July 7, 1850, and died December 13, 
1864. 

582. Mary Elizabeth, born October 27, 1853, and mar- 
ried Sylvester Harvey, January 15, 1875, who was born De- 
cember 29, 1854. 

583. Nathaniel, born February 19, 1857. 

JACOB EMMONS and MARTHA ESTHER MESS- 
LER (299), his wife, had two children: 

584. Harriet K., born April 3, 1855, and married Henry 
L. Kennedy, December 2, 1875. 

585. Margaret S., born April 3, 1855, a twin sister to the 
above, and married Eli McMurtry, November 14, 1874. 

JOHN H. MESSLER (300) and SARAH K. GAL- 
BREATH, his wife, had two children : 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 89 



586. Isaac G., born July 28, 1850, and died December 12, 
1856. 

587. James A., born December i, 1852, and married Henri- 
etta Bevis, May i, 1878, who was born November 19, 1859, at 
Cincinnati. 



NINTH GENERATION. 

LE COUNT MYERS and LORANA MESSLER (375), 
his wife, have had one child : 

588. Margaretta M., born April i, 1870. 

JEREMIAH MESSLER (378) and SARAH A. AB- 
BOTT, his wife, have had two children : 

589. Le Verne B., born July 10, 1881. 

590. Arthur H., born November 28, 1884. 

ORLANDO WITHERSPOON (415) and CORA V. 
TAYLOR, his wife, had seven children : 

591. Alice, born at Buffalo, N. Y., December 18, 1861, and 
married George Pratt Ingersoll of New Haven, Conn., No- 
vember 3, 1 891. 

592. Eleanor, born at Buffalo, April 7, 1863, and married 
Edward Shelton Cornell of Birmingham, Conn., November 3, 
1886. 

593. Edward Taylor, born at Buffalo, November 8, 1864. 
He is a lieutenant in the United States Navy. 

594. Arthur Storey, born at Buffalo, October 15, 1867. 

595. Gertrude, born at Buffalo, January 7, 1870. 

596. Herbert, born at Buffalo, July 21, 1873. 

597. Cora Louise, born at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 29, 1876, 
and died at New Haven, Conn., November 6, 1888. 

EDWARD WITHERSPOON (417) and EUGENIA 
TOBEY, his wife, had one child: 

598. Elizabeth T., born at Rochester, N. Y., August 23, 
1868. 

EDWARD WITHERSPOON (417) and EDNA J. 
SPRONG, his second wife, have had one child: 

599. Edna S., born July 10, 1881. 



9° MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

JOSEPH GRAY and ELLEN ADELIA MESSLER 
(418), his wife, have had one child: 

600. Charles Henry, horn at Petoskey, Michigan, Jan- 
uary 3, 1886, and died the same year. 

JAMES H. MESSLER (420) and LEILIE MAY COR- 
NOR, his wife, have had one child : 

601. Maude Hulda, born at Cross Village, Michigan, Sep- 
tember 19, 1883. 

RICHARD MORTEN and ELLEN C. MESSLER (424), 
his wife, have had three children : 

602. Charlotte May, born at Richmond, Virginia, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1884. 

603. Henry Kennedy, born at Richmond, January i, 1887. 

604. Mary, born November 25, 1889. 

JAMES HAYES and ADELAIDE R. MESSLER (427), 
his wife, have had one child : 

605. Henry Jackson, born at Richmond, Virginia, August 
28, 1888. 

CHARLES B. MESSLER (443) and LYDIA J. BIGGS, 
his wife, had five children : 

606. John C, born at White House, N. J., December 30, 
1 87 1, and died April 6, 1873. 

607. Henry W., born as above, January 4, 1874. 

608. Emma S., born as above, December 6, 1875. 

609. Catherine, born as above, November 13, 1880. 

610. Bertha, born as above, November 20, 1882. 

JOHN MESSLER (445) and SARAH SMITH, his wife, 
have had one child: 

611. Margaretta, born in 1872. 

_ JACOB FEICLE and SARAH MESSLER (446), his 
wife, have had, it is known, five children, but their names and 
when or where they were born it has not been possible to ascer- 
tain. 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 91 



MARTIN B. HUYLER and ALLETTA ANN MESS- 
LER (448), his wife, have had two children: 

612. Charles M., born at Chester, Morris County, N. J., 
April 16, 1870. 

613. Frederick, born at Peapack, N. J., July 16, 1876. 

JACOB N. MESSLER (450) and ALICE CONDIT, his 
wife, have had one child : 

614. Charles, born November 12, 1887. 

MAHLON SMITH and MARGARET MESSLER 
(451), his wife, have had two children: 

615. Anna May, born July 31, 1880. 

616. Daniel, born May 4, 1884, and died May 8, 1884. 

JOHN L. KEISER and IDA M. MESSLER (457), his 
wife, have had three children: 

617. Jane May, born in 1879. 

618. Daisy Pearl, born in 1881. 

619. Gertrude L., born in 1885. 

JOHN V. MESSLER (471) and EVELYN WILLIS, his 
wife, have had six children : 

620. John Stryker, born at Elizabethport, N. J., July 13, 
1874. 

621. Charles Elmer, born at Somerville, N. J., August 
23, 1876. 

622. Frederick, born at Jersey City, N. J., August 24, 
1878, and died at Jersey City, February 21, 1879. 

623. Margaret, born in New York, June 6, 1880. 

624. William, born in New York, December 6, 1882. 

625. Joseph Wallace, born in New York, August 24, 
1886. 

PETER S. MESSLER (472) and ELDORA S. A. HEW- 
ITT, his wife, had four children : 

626. Charles C, born at Jersey City, June 15, 1881. 

627. Lewis H., born in New York, November 28, 1882. 

628. Frances M., born at High Bridge, N. Y., July 15, 
1886, and died December 26, 1886. 

629. Mary L., born in New York, January 6, 1889. 



92 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 

WILLIAM B. MESSLER (473) and LAURA HAM- 
MOND, his wife, have had two children: 

630. Frederick N,, born August 14, 1878. 

631. George^ born January 7, 1880, and died December 
14, 1882. 

DAVID N. MESSLER (474) and LOUETTA OP- 
DYCKE, his wife, have had one child : 

632. Robert T., born at Somerville, N. J., December 29, 
1885. 

LEWIS S. HEWITT and GERTRUDE MESSLER 
(475), his wife, have had two children : 

633. Lilly M., born at Jersey City, N. J., April 28, 1882. 

634. Gertrude M., born in New York, January 9, 1896, 
and died July 22, 1896. 

FREDERICK McD. MESSLER (477) and MARY E. 
GILES, his wife, have had two children : 

635. Leon S., born at Newark, N. J., August 15, 1891, and 
died June 13, 1892. 

636. Charles Hilliard, born at Asheville, N. C, March 
20, 1893. 

JOHN C HESS and ANNA MESSLER (480), his wife, ' 
have had two children : 

637. Anna M., born in Philadelphia, August 5, 1885. 

638. George Russell, born in Philadelphia, February 18, 
1893. 

JOHN DOTY and FRANCES GOLDSMITH SWIFT 
(483), his wife, have had three children: 

639. Katherine Swift, born June 18, 1883. 

640. Oliver Keese, born at Kent, Conn., August 16, 1885. 

641. Eleanor Mandeville, born at Pelham Manor, N. Y., 
April 12, 1889. 

EDWARD S. ATWATER and CAROLINE PARK 
SWIFT (484), his wife, have had four children: 

642. Morton, born January 11, 1882, at Poughkeepsie, 
N. Y. 



m 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 93 



643. Lucy Lovell, born at Poughkeepsie, March 30, 1883. 

644. Eliott, born at Poughkeepsie, March 28, 1886. 

645. Evelyn, born at Poughkeepsie, May 17, 1891. 

CHARLES W. SWIFT, JR., (485) and ADELAIDE 
VAN KLEECK, his wife, have had three children : 

646. Charles Warner, 3D., born June 30, 1882, and died 
February 10, 1883. 

647. Hilda Van Kleeck, born December 30, 1883. 

648. Theodore, born August 9, 1887. All these children 
were likewise bom at Poughkeepsie. 

GEORGE MOLLISON and FRANCES MESSLER CO- 
VERT (486), his wife, have had three children: 

649. Helen Covert, born November 9, 1878, and died 
August 10, 1879. 

650. Cornelia Grimsley, born August 9, 1880. 

651. George, born July 6, 1882. 

EUGENE LAWRENCE MESSLER (494) and ELIZA- 
BETH VERNER LONG, his wife, have had one child : 

652. Thomas Doremus, Jr., born at Pittsburg, January 
29, 1900. 

ROY FLEETWOOD DONALDSON and MARY 
SWIFT GRIMSLEY (495), his wife, have had one child: 

653. Helen Covert, born at Springfield, Illinois, October 
31, 1897. "^ 

MORRIS R. COOKE and MARY ETTA MESSLER 
(496), his wife, have had one child: 

654. Helen R., born at White House, N. J., January 6, 
1888. 

LEWIS A. COMPTON and SUSAN S. MESSLER 
(497), his wife, have had one child: 

655. Ethel L., born at White House, N. J., November 2y, 
1886. 



94 MESSLER GENEALOGY. 



HALSEY COOK and ANN MESSLER (505), his wife, 
have had one child : 

656. Frank, born at Morristown, N. J., December 15, 
1 861, and married Ida Ayres in 1882, who was born November 
29, 1862. 

CHARLES MESSLER (510) and ELIZABETH CRUE, 
his wife, have had seven children : 

657. Anne, born at Scotch Plains, N. J., December 2, 1877. 

658. Lid A, born as above, November 4, 1879. 

659. Eva, born as above, December 24, 1882. 

660. Emma C, born as above, July 21, 1885. 

661. Levi L., born as above, October 26, 1886, and died 
in 1887. 

662. Sarah L., born as above, July 5, 1888. 

663. Margaret V., born as above, October 2, 1890. 

SAMUEL MESSLER (511) and ANNA ABIER, his 
wife, have had three children : 

664. William^ born at Rahway, N. J., March 2, 1879. 

665. Cornelius, born as above, May 5, 1882. 

666. John, born as above, June 21, 1885. 

JAMES RADIN and SARAH E. MESSLER (515), his 
wife, have had three children : 

667. Ira, born at Scotch Plains, N. J., September 21, 1877, 
and died June 4, 1879. 

668. Laura L., born as above, October 8, 1880. 

669. Henry S., born as above, June 27, 1883. 

ALEXANDER MESSLER (516) and CATHERINE 
ROULSTON, his wife, have had three children: 

670. Henry, born at Scotch Plains, N. J., September 15, 
1882. 

671. Florence M., born as above, October 16, 1885. 

672. Frank A., born as above, March 2, 1889. 

GEORGE W. MESSLER (552) and MARIA FOSSEL- 
MAN, his wife, have had seven children : 



MESSLER GENEALOGY. 95 



673. Mary E., born at Bluffton, Indiana, July 15, 1865, and 
married A. Wilteman, April 6, 1890, who was born October 
14, 1866, at Springborough, Ohio. They removed to Verdon, 
Nebraska. 

674. John F., born as above, April 14, 1867, and married 
Veta Johnston, February 22, 1890, who was born in Davis 
County, Kansas, June 4, 1872. They lived at Verdon, Ne- 
braska. 

675. Joseph M., born as above, May 28, 1869. He was a 
farmer and lived at Verdon. 

6j6. Lawrence, born as above, February 24, 1871. 

677. Martha, born as above, February 11, 1873, and mar- 
ried William Mark, February 12, 1891, who was born at Falls 
City, Nebraska, January 7, 1868. They lived at Falls City. 

678. Wn-LiAM H., born as above, March 15, 1878. He 
lived at Stella, Nebraska. 

679. Benjamin M. J., born as above, October 9, 1881. 
He also lived at Stella, Nebraska, 

AARON ROBERTS and EMILY MESSLER (580), 
his wife, have had four children: 

680. An unnamed son, born December 8, 1868, and died 
in infancy. 

681. David Edward, a twin, born December 8, 1868. 

682. Ettie Ann, born February 10, 1872, and married 
James Hunt, May 12, 1888. She died August 24, 1888. 

683. Lilian May, born January 24, 1880. 

SYLVESTER HARVEY and MARY ELIZABETH 
MESSLER (582), his wife, have had five children: 

684. George L., born May 6, 1876. 

685. Isaac Corwin, born September 27, 1879. 

686. Frances C, born August 17, 1882, and died early. 

687. Frederick L., born November 17, 1884, and also died 
early. 

688. Clara Etta, born October 5, 1886, and also died 
early. 



'1,1 



I 



FAMILY RECORD BOOK 



FAMILY RECORD 

BIRTHS 



99 



FAMILY RECORD 

BIRTHS 



lOO 



FAMILY RECORD 

BIRTHS 



lOI 



FAMILY RECORD 

BIRTHS 



1 02 



FAMILY RECORD 

MARRIAGES 



103 



FAMILY RECORD 

MARRIAGES 



104 



FAMILY RECORD 

DEATHS 



105 



FAMILY RECORD 

DEATHS 



/?o '"^ 



c 



HERE ENDS THE FIRST GENEALOGICAL RECORD OF THE MESSLER 
(METSELAER) FAMILY, COMPILED, ARRANGED, AND EDITED, 
WITH BIOGRAPHICAL MONOGRAPHS AND A PREFATORY NOTE, 
BY REMSEN VARICK MESSLER, AND PRINTED FOR PRIVATE 
CIRCULATION ONLY BY R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY, 
AT THE LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. FINISHED 
AND PUBLISHED ON THE NINETEENTH DAY OF MARCH, I903. 



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